I Passed...

Last spring (end of Feb) I wrote an entry talking about how I had signed up and taken the EIPA performance test, and promised I would let you know my score when I got it. I never did follow through on that. It wound up taking more than the 90 days estimated by the company for them to finish the evaluation, and I didn't get the results till after I had returned from Costa Rica - then, after I saw my score I was so disappointed in my limited progress that I didn't feel it was worthy of any celebration. So I ignored it.

You'll mock me (and rightly so), because I did improve - I got a 4.1 (up from a 3.8) - but I wanted a 4.2. I read somewhere that the average certified RID member scored a 4.2 when they took the EIPA performance, and that was my goal, and it became some kind of mental sign that if I got it, then when I took the NIC (RID's certification test) I would be able to pass that. Because I didn't get it, I sulked instead.

Shortly after I took the performance portion of the test, I signed up to take the written portion in May. Frustratingly, one week before I was supposed to take it, (after studying my brains out)the test was suspended in order to deal with some breach of confidentiality issues. So it wasn't until this afternoon that the schedules of both me and my proctor finally aligned and I was able to take the test.

I don't know how I did it, but somehow, I passed the test. I was exhausted - the test was almost 200 questions long, there were technical difficulties (my computer shut down in the middle and I had to restart!!) and I had gotten up early to make the drive to the testing location and I had just finished with a very long week at work. There were times during the test when I would sit and read a question 4-5 times, trying to figure out what on earth it said, my brain would just freeze up and I would have to sit back and try to reboot myself. 'Tis true, miracles still happen.

So what does passing these tests actually mean? Well... "as of the fall 2006, RID began to recognize individuals who passed the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) written and performance tests at the level of 4.o or higher as certified members of the association."

It means that I am a certified member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. I am not certified to work in all settings (legal, medical...), but I have got Educational settings (k-12) covered. I have been qualified to work Educational settings in the state of Idaho for the last 5 years, (they only require a 3.5) but it sure feels good to be nationally certified. Give it another several hours of sleep and I might even have enough energy to feel excited about it, lol :)

Two tests down... two left to go.