The Driver's License Story

On Thursday, I found myself at the Anchorage DMV on Benson to finally get my Alaska driver's license. I realize I've been in Alaska for more than a year now, but since I procrastinate, I waited until four days before my license expired to change it over.

Well, that's not completely true. Believe it or not, I get anxious over tests -- even silly written tests in the DMV office. It's not really the taking of the test that worries me, honestly. I worry about not passing a test. For those of you who know me, it must sound very strange, because I've probably failed less than 20 tests in my life, and at least 5 of those came from graduate-level differential equations courses. I guess after going through so many years of school, I just don't especially relish the idea of facing tests anymore, especially those that I can potentially fail. So, I waited until the last possible second to take a basic test at the DMV.

I stood in line, clutching a rule book in hand, waiting in the written test line with my application for a new license. Although I was reading the book, I had already read it online a few hours before. At the end of the written test line was the world's slowest data entry operator, so I had a good amount of time to re-review the book.

While I was waiting, three people failed the test. In a row! This even made me more nervous, and I quickly flipped through the pages, looking for any trickery. Eventually I made it to the front of the line, and was assigned a little computer terminal for my test.

The fact was, the test itself was not so hard. It consisted of 25 questions, and you had to get 21 of them correct to pass. The only question I missed was "How close can you follow an ambulance?" (answer: 500 ft).

What a relief! I was happy to get my license, and was happy to see that my picture looks less like an axe-murderer's wife this time. I look happy, like someone who is relieved to have passed a written test :)

What I learned is that I had let anxiety transform a silly multiple choice test into the driving GREs. This year, I'm going to work on not letting test paralysis, or any other anxiety stop me from doing what I want or need to do.