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| I hate those ironic pictures of IELTS students |
IELTS is a horror movie to most students especially when their academic future depends on it.
When I joined university I took a TOFEL test instead and was pretty enough with my English level at that time to get me accepted in all colleges. Now that I graduated I wanted to keep my options open to possible future higher education pursuing so I decided to go through all the trouble now when I am somehow free rather than wait for a last minute chance to apply.
The challenge I'm gonna talk about is not an expected academic one but rather a challenge of getting passed harsh circumstances on the way to get the IELTS. I reached a point where I truly believe its not meant to be to take this test or worse I got hit by the evil eye lol
I tried to keep it a secret from many people that I'm planning to apply for IELTS simply cuz I wasn't sure if I'll take it now or then. Only my close family members and some of my workmates -who were so nosy to ask what I'm reviewing in my free time *pfffff* - got to know about the IELTS on my schedule.
When I went to register for the first time I took few hours off work and had to walk around a huge ancient university building to reach the IELTS center. When I finally got there I was given a bank account number to pay the fees and was not allowed to even reserve a seat or fill an application before that!:l
After work on the same day, I headed to the nearest bank which told me that an amount less than 1000 won't be accepted and that money exchange offices are more suitable for such transactions.
I went to the office which then said it won't work to transfer money to a university account I need a specific person name and turned me back to the bank I came from..(this is when I started to lose my temper)
I went back and explained that to the lady and she asked me about which bank the account is under and so its easier to go there and pay (why u didn't say so from the beginning!!).. unfortunately that bank was already closed..
Due to work stress I couldn't find the time to go and pay so I was late by a week or so and thus missed the exam on January, yet I believe its for the best.
to cut the story short; I had to go back and forth for around 4 times to register and every time I forgot an important document unlike the usual me who comes fully prepared. First my ID was at home then it was expired. back for my passport and lastly the receipt as a prove of my payment !!!!!!!!!!! on the last time I started crying on the way back and bumped my head on the car door so hard while my husband trying to comfort me lol
I FINALLY reserved a day, the first of Feb ~
My sister in law happened to had the same exam with her friend and it was nice to have an experienced company on the day of exam. All the time I was praying to this last step to go smooth.
when it was time to enter the exam hall we took a place at the beginning of the line and when it was my turn bad luck came knocking again !!! I was told that I need my ID not my passport as the lady reserved my seat using my ID before knowing its expired and forgot to replace it with my passport number instead !! I kept my nerves cool and left the line rushing to my car where I kept my ID. Although I was supposed to be from the first batch entering the hall I ended up at the last of the line =___=
there was around 10 rows and guess what!? my sister in law and her friend were at the second and me next to college students at the 10th row !!!!! still cool.
prayers on my mind while holding my disbelief from the series of bad luck doings happening at once. The exam coordinator was reading the guidelines for the exam meanwhile I started feeling like I need a visit to the toilet immediately ! WHY THE HELL did I had cornflakes with milk on an empty stomach! I was in a war wondering if there's time to go to the toilet now or wait for the breaks between each session. I took a risk and went with the first option. xD
luckily the listening part went great but when the reading part was being distributed the craziest shock came rushing !! Now I understood the meaning of "Genre: G " posted on my table, I was assigned for the GENERAL version of the test not the academic! Here I went nuts, "EXCUSE ME!! EXCUSE ME!! I registered for the academic test this is not what I registered for !!!" *freaking out* the row examiner went rushing to the coordinator and explained the situation while I was like no way such a joke is playing on me oh god no please no I can't wait for 15 more days to retake another exam nor can I go through the long process of registration AGAIN!!
Thank god the drama ended by giving me the right version without questioning and I couldn't believe I handed in the papers and got out of that place finally
I went joking with my friends saying I'm sure my result will get lost somewhere in UK there is no way it can reach me smoothly lol
The results came in time and the series of drama ended with a big joy of getting band 8 out of 9 alhamdellah. :)
In this exam I learned the true meaning of fighting for something you want and working so hard to get it. It was such an unforgettable story that will keep me laughing whenever remembered. Did you had such a situation where you thought maybe its not meant to be but you made it anyways?
peace,
Amna
