Dismal Failure

I have almost always been lucky as far as exams are concerned. Without putting in much efforts, I have managed to clear most of the exams that I have written in my life and that too, quite creditably. Today when I look at my friends, colleagues and team members in office sweating it out like anything to clear their CA/ CWA/ CS exams, I express my gratitude to the Almightly for having taken me through my set of exams and having made me the successful professional (I believe myself to be one) that I am today. I think my streak of luck with exams are almost over; thanks to my dismal failure at the APM examination about which I had mentioned in my earlier post. I had taken quite a lot of pain to complete the 7 chapters of APM on time. Not that I was reading something that I had no idea about. The whole syllabus was very much about Accounts Payable processing, Internal Controls, Technology used, Outsourcing, AP Process Management etc- things which I regularly apply in my professional life. To add to this, the study material was completely different from what I had read for my CA/ CS exams. It was more like a story book or let's say, a lightly written article in one of the many business publications we come across. The contents and styling of the study material and my familiarity with the topics had given me enough confidence to take the exams head on. So there I was in the Board Room of my office at 6.30 PM sharp on Tuesday, August 28 logging in to take the online exam. I was supposed to answer 100 questions in 90 minutes time- all objective type. Let me confess this first- I was not really used to objective type examinations since all the exams that I had passed in the past required me to write descriptive answers. To add to it, the questions and the options given were so confusing that you could not single out one answer as correct from the four options given. They all appeared equally correct to me. Finally, I had to use my sense of judgement (!) and select the option which I felt was the most appropriate in each case. Being the over confident and hyper active person that I am, I finished the 100 questions in 20 minutes sharp. I had 70 more minutes with me and the Study Material was lying next to me. But, thanks to my sense of self pride and an inflated ego, I decided to submit my answers without even bothering to glance through them once. The moment I clicked "Submit", I received an e mail from IOMA saying, well, what else but "Sorry- better luck next time." Needless to say, I was flabbergasted on receiving the e mail and for the first one minute, was not sure what to do. In a couple of minutes, realization dawned on me and I accepted the fact that I had lost it. Almost everyone who knew me in my office were not ready to believe that I had lost the exam. But, the fact stays put. There were apprehensions from various quarters that I had taken the studies lightly which was completely untrue. For, I still remember what all I had read in the study material and had the exam been of descriptive nature, I am sure that I would have emerged victorious. It was not the study material that I took lightly, it was the whole process of writing the exam that I took casually. With the kind of time that I had after finishing the exam, I could have easily done a re check of my answers with reference to the study material (IOMA openly calls this an open- book exam), but my sense of pride did not allow me to do so. I did reap the results of my pride and now I have very clearly understood why they say- "PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL." When I look back at the whole experience almost a week later, I feel what happened served just right for me. I am supposed to take the examination again on October 1 and this time around I will be real careful and take adequate care to answer the questions properly with reference to the study material. And hopefully, might be able to make it as an APM...