On being evaluated

Evaluation can be a nail biting experience for me as I have always exuded pressure on myself to be successful. When I decided to go forward in obtaining a master’s degree, I had to decide which nail biting evaluation I wanted to undergo. Well, I chose to only bite my nails for one hour with the MAT as opposed to the two and a half hours with the GRE. While preparing for the MAT evaluation, I tried to keep in mind that studying should mainly focus on analogy relationships with little emphasis on content. When the evaluator said, “you may begin the test,” I began to read each analogy with trying to uncover the relationship of each analogy. One of my strengths during this test was to not over analyze what I was reading but to go with my first instinct. This also assisted me in completing the test in a timely manner. My weakness came with some of the vocabulary; however, using prefixes and suffixes helped me get through knowing the meanings. Now after taking the test, the hindsight of taking humanities and fine arts courses in college certainly assisted me in taking the MAT. Each individual has his or her own forte, which is apart of their skills; however, knowledge is a broad range of understanding on many different topics. I think the MAT does a good and fair job on touching each discipline of education. Prior to taking a graduate level test, I thought it was ridiculous to test on so many areas that do not pertain to the degree being sought after but what I understand now is that being educated means being well rounded in many areas of education. A wide range of knowledge can assist in learning as well as making teaching lessons relevant for each child. Overall, I am pleased with my experience in taking the MAT; however, I would change the fact that I applied pressure on myself to the point of biting my nails. Thankfully nail biting only comes with evaluations like the MAT.