Are You Ready to Take Your Test?
After all the hoopla, all the arguments, all the waiting and all the chaos surrounding Dylan’s ability – or inability – to secure a time to take his Learner’s Permit test, and after he slept through his first one, he finally selected a second time slot. He chose 3:30 p.m. on July 3. He studied for two hours online before he went. It was a 25-question test, but Dylan took several 40-question sample tests in preparation. He even got together his (correct!) pile of materials the day before he went.
We all agreed that July 3 was a good choice, since it was the day before a holiday. We expected that many people would be on vacation that day – and that week – and wouldn’t want to be bogged down with a whole day at the MVA.
We were wrong. In fact, everyone in America thought that July 3 was the perfect day to go to the MVA. I dropped Dylan at the door and unsuccessfully circled the parking lot for ten minutes, finally giving up – only to luck into a prime spot while trying to park across the street. I went inside.
Things were equally crazy inside. Dylan was in a line – the right line, surprisingly – and he was probably 47th in that line. He had an appointment – but it seemed entirely unnecessary. No one asked him about an appointment time. After nine months of procrastination, it was astounding that they didn’t even ask if he had an appointment.
But we followed protocol. We sat together and joked about the insanity of it all. About two hours later, Dylan’s number was called and he was allowed to stand near the door, where he would be called in to take his test. Finally, a man emerged.
“Are you ready to take your test?” the man asked Dylan.
“Yeah,” Dylan said. They went inside.
I looked around the room, which was beginning to clear out. I found a bench, and sat down. I turned on my phone, and looked for a game to play while I was waiting. I only have one game, so it wasn’t tough to decide what to play. I clicked on the WordBrain app.
Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something startling.
It was Dylan, stepping slowly out of the testing room.
He got thrown out, I thought. He did something wrong and he got thrown out.
I jumped up. He motioned for me to sit down, but I was too nervous.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I couldn’t finish the test,” he said.
“What do you mean, you couldn’t finish? Did the computer break?”
“No,” he said. “After I got the first 22 questions right, it said, ‘Your test is complete.’ And it wouldn’t let me answer the last three questions.”
It took me a second to process this.
“You’re finished with your test already?” I nearly shrieked. “You were only in there for 35 seconds!”
“More like five minutes,” he said. “But yeah, I’m done.”
Another thought suddenly hit me: “And YOU PASSED!”
“Yep,” he said. “It was so easy!” (It’s amazing how easy something can be when you study for two hours beforehand.)
So my baby has his learner’s permit now.
Finally.