The instructor that proctored the TOEFL exam had said he hoped the results would be out in 2 days. Turned out to be a week.
I had asked the secretary of the English Language Department (they were in charge of everything having to do with the TOEFL) how was it going to be possible for me to get a chance to sit with the academic advisor before classes and arrange my schedule when the results would be coming out the same day as classes were to begin. He said not to worry and that things would be up in the air for at least 2 weeks after classes officially started. Then came the wait….
Thursday…
Friday…
Saturday…
And finally Sunday…
I slept Saturday night with my laptop beside me. The first thing I did when I realized it was morning was reach out from beneath my covers and hit F5 (refresh button) I had left the university website up so I’d just have to refresh the page in the morning and see if the TOEFL results were out. I refreshed thrice and it still only had the posting for the previous TOEFL results. It was then that I realized it was 5:00 am. I pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep for a few hours. I dreamt about the results. Not surprising since I had been dreaming about the TOEFL exam and results almost every night since two days before I ever took the exam.
I woke again at 7:00am. My stomach hurt like hell (I had forgotten to eat yoghurt regularly since I was taking antibiotics for the strep throat I had). I took some panadol and went back to bed without even checking for the results. When I woke again it was after 9 and by the time I showered, dressed and all it was 10. I decided to call the uni. I spoke to another secretary who told me the results wouldn’t be out till after 11. Fine, I could stay home and take some more panadol while I watch an ep or two of anime.
It was 11:30 before I knew it. I called the uni twice and got no answer. I decided to check the site one last time before leaving the house. The uni page loaded and the TOEFL exam result date was finally changed to the date I had taken the exam meaning the results were posted.
My heart started steadily picking up pace. Sheemota… I clicked a few things before the actual results were finally in front of me. Student ID number and then the result of the TOEFL exam. 500 and over, the passing grades were highlighted blue. The first score on the list of 97 girls was 507. Next was 480-something my heart dropped to the vicinity of my toes. Ya Rabb please let me have passed even if it’s just 500 or 501!
I saw a couple of 300-somethings. Felt dizzy. Air… need air! – but before that I have to get through this list and find out what the hell I got. I tried to focus on reading the student ID first before the score. Somehow I reverted back to reading the score first and then dying as I looked in fear checking the digits of the student ID. Nearly had heart failure when I spotted a zero in the list.
Finally there was a cluster of scores near the end of the list. 630, 637, 627 and 517. I had already checked all the other highlighted scores above those on the list. “If I’m not in these last 4 highlighted scores I am DOOMED (not doomed of course that would only mean I would have had to go through the intensive English program which would have been the biggest humiliation ever faced by any descendant of Adam living in this day and age. – I so didn’t want that even though I tried to talk myself into thinking positively about it.)
630’s ID number didn’t look like mine. The other three, 637,627 and 517 all looked like mine with the exception of the last digit. I stared at them for a long while in disbelief. Could one of those IDs really be mine (even 517 was looking glorious!). When it finally hit me that 627 was my score and the ID was mine and that was really my score I felt like I needed to pass out and recover for a bit. All that stress of looking through those scores and IDs was pretty draining!
The rest of the day seemed to go by like one of those dreams that u are in but disconnected from at the same time as u watch all that’s going on but have no part in the dream or u watch urself doing things.
After running around looking for a form for the courses and then someone to sign the form and someone else to approve the signed form, I was told to go up to the finance depart to pay. I had already paid the initial fees (they call it seat reservation but it’s counted towards the tuition fees – praise the Lord). I thought I would have only had to pay 50% of the tuition fee up front and then pay off the remaining balance in two later installments. Ha ha seems one can only do that if they get post-dated checks from the bank. Lady smacked down the total amount of money I had left to pay and it was like OMGWT!!!! (There goes the last of the money I had been proudly saving for my project – that was the longest and highest amount I had ever saved to in my life!)
I got home and realized I was four thousand short.. where the hell would I get four thousand from?!
In the end after looking the Mother’s way and not finding a “donation” I was saved by my kid sister (she lent me seven thousand total – of course though since I previously lent her a thousand four hundred that means I only owe her five thousand six hundred) in return for such generosity I shall buy the kid the I-mate JasJar she’s been drooling over. A fair deal. Buying the kid an I-mate is certainly worth getting into uni.
I had asked the secretary of the English Language Department (they were in charge of everything having to do with the TOEFL) how was it going to be possible for me to get a chance to sit with the academic advisor before classes and arrange my schedule when the results would be coming out the same day as classes were to begin. He said not to worry and that things would be up in the air for at least 2 weeks after classes officially started. Then came the wait….
Thursday…
Friday…
Saturday…
And finally Sunday…
I slept Saturday night with my laptop beside me. The first thing I did when I realized it was morning was reach out from beneath my covers and hit F5 (refresh button) I had left the university website up so I’d just have to refresh the page in the morning and see if the TOEFL results were out. I refreshed thrice and it still only had the posting for the previous TOEFL results. It was then that I realized it was 5:00 am. I pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep for a few hours. I dreamt about the results. Not surprising since I had been dreaming about the TOEFL exam and results almost every night since two days before I ever took the exam.
I woke again at 7:00am. My stomach hurt like hell (I had forgotten to eat yoghurt regularly since I was taking antibiotics for the strep throat I had). I took some panadol and went back to bed without even checking for the results. When I woke again it was after 9 and by the time I showered, dressed and all it was 10. I decided to call the uni. I spoke to another secretary who told me the results wouldn’t be out till after 11. Fine, I could stay home and take some more panadol while I watch an ep or two of anime.
It was 11:30 before I knew it. I called the uni twice and got no answer. I decided to check the site one last time before leaving the house. The uni page loaded and the TOEFL exam result date was finally changed to the date I had taken the exam meaning the results were posted.
My heart started steadily picking up pace. Sheemota… I clicked a few things before the actual results were finally in front of me. Student ID number and then the result of the TOEFL exam. 500 and over, the passing grades were highlighted blue. The first score on the list of 97 girls was 507. Next was 480-something my heart dropped to the vicinity of my toes. Ya Rabb please let me have passed even if it’s just 500 or 501!
I saw a couple of 300-somethings. Felt dizzy. Air… need air! – but before that I have to get through this list and find out what the hell I got. I tried to focus on reading the student ID first before the score. Somehow I reverted back to reading the score first and then dying as I looked in fear checking the digits of the student ID. Nearly had heart failure when I spotted a zero in the list.
Finally there was a cluster of scores near the end of the list. 630, 637, 627 and 517. I had already checked all the other highlighted scores above those on the list. “If I’m not in these last 4 highlighted scores I am DOOMED (not doomed of course that would only mean I would have had to go through the intensive English program which would have been the biggest humiliation ever faced by any descendant of Adam living in this day and age. – I so didn’t want that even though I tried to talk myself into thinking positively about it.)
630’s ID number didn’t look like mine. The other three, 637,627 and 517 all looked like mine with the exception of the last digit. I stared at them for a long while in disbelief. Could one of those IDs really be mine (even 517 was looking glorious!). When it finally hit me that 627 was my score and the ID was mine and that was really my score I felt like I needed to pass out and recover for a bit. All that stress of looking through those scores and IDs was pretty draining!
The rest of the day seemed to go by like one of those dreams that u are in but disconnected from at the same time as u watch all that’s going on but have no part in the dream or u watch urself doing things.
After running around looking for a form for the courses and then someone to sign the form and someone else to approve the signed form, I was told to go up to the finance depart to pay. I had already paid the initial fees (they call it seat reservation but it’s counted towards the tuition fees – praise the Lord). I thought I would have only had to pay 50% of the tuition fee up front and then pay off the remaining balance in two later installments. Ha ha seems one can only do that if they get post-dated checks from the bank. Lady smacked down the total amount of money I had left to pay and it was like OMGWT!!!! (There goes the last of the money I had been proudly saving for my project – that was the longest and highest amount I had ever saved to in my life!)
I got home and realized I was four thousand short.. where the hell would I get four thousand from?!
In the end after looking the Mother’s way and not finding a “donation” I was saved by my kid sister (she lent me seven thousand total – of course though since I previously lent her a thousand four hundred that means I only owe her five thousand six hundred) in return for such generosity I shall buy the kid the I-mate JasJar she’s been drooling over. A fair deal. Buying the kid an I-mate is certainly worth getting into uni.
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