"We really appreciate your time and effort for coming here to take the exam. We are happy to inform you that you had passed the examination. Your interview will be scheduled as soon as possible."
These are the words written on that letter given to me after taking that roughly 4-hour exam in a certain company where I am applying for a Java Programmer position. Let me tell you how that exam turned out to be a roller coaster of experience for me.
Yesterday, the HR of that company called me, inviting me for an "allegedly" job interview at 9am the following day. I got my resume printed also yesterday because she was asking me to bring a copy of it. Then, this morning I woke up so early to get prepared and headed to that company. I came so early on the building and decided first to stay in the nearest convenience store located also on the same company's building. At around 8:45am, I decided to enter the building's main premises and surrendered my ID in the security personnel and then went to the company's office located in the 9th floor of that building. When I reached the office, I told the receptionist that I was scheduled for an interview. But then, the receptionist asked me if I had taken the qualifying exam already, so I answered no. To my surprise, I have to take the exam first as part of the application process for that position. I totally misheard the instruction details of the HR who called me yesterday and just assumed that I'm just scheduled for an interview in that company. So I have no choice but to take the said qualifying exam. The receptionist asked for my resume and gave me the questionnaire with the answer sheet for the IQ test. By the way, the exam has two parts, an IQ test (which I found not really complicated) and a programmer aptitude exam.
When I entered the room (their conference room I think), there were some applicants who were taking the exam already. (The exam is supposedly scheduled 9am and then, there were applicants who arrived earlier than the scheduled time. They don't seem so excited..hahaha..) Thinking that my so-called "competitors" had answered already some of the items on the IQ test, somehow I felt worried that I may not be able to answer all the items of it. But then, my worry had gone when I found out that the entire exam is not a time-pressure type. So, I just started answering the 75 items of the IQ test and found something unusual..
While I'm about to answer the exam, I noticed that the questionnaire has already answers on it. So, I was afraid that the checker will notice it so I returned to the receptionist and told her about the answers in the test questionnaire. She even gave me a new questionnaire and I headed back to the conference room for me to start answering the IQ test. While I and other applicants were so busy answering the test, a group of 3 girls sitting beside me, were making some noise and unnecessary sounds (since they knew each other, maybe classmates in college.) What's more even irritating was they tend to ask answers from each other since there's no other proctor inside the room who will watch us while taking the exam. And after answering the exam, they even keep on talking as if no other people were still not done with the exam and that includes me. I knew that other applicants were also annoyed of their laughs and noises, but then, all of us were still concentrating on the exam. After an hour I think, I'm done already with the IQ test and submitted my answer sheet and questionnaire with other applicants who answered the exam ahead of me.
The HR, who happened to call me yesterday, now entered the room and gave the second set of the exam. Though I found the IQ test very simple, I was surprised with the Programmer aptitude exam given to us. It was totally more complicated than the first test and contains ten problems that must be answered logically showing how you come up with your answer for every item. I had a very hard time understanding how am I going to answer this so I just read and read and read the instructions being provided as well as its examples. After reading the instructions a couple of times, I started answering the exam. While answering the exam, the 3 noisy girls had really annoyed me a lot that time because they don't even answering the exam and were just talking with each other (I guess they just totally surrendered and never even tried to answer the second test..) I was feeling mad at that point because they were even distracting me. I'm not trying to judge them but they were acting unprofessionally already (knowing that no other company's employee was around to watch them). But then, though I felt so irritated and annoyed with those girls, I continued answering the exam. After almost three hours of answering the exam, most of the applicants went out from the room to give their questionnaires and answer sheets to the HR. Since, I'm not really expecting that I'm going to pass the programmer aptitude exam, I didn't even tried answering the last item of it, even though I managed to answer all the 9 items. I was also expecting that the checking of the exam will not happened on the same time and the HR will just call me if ever I passed the exam. Totally tired, exhausted and hungry that time (since its lunch time already and I haven't eaten my breakfast), I was really hoping that we were allowed to leave the building. But then, when I passed my answer sheet and questionnaire, the HR told me to wait for some time because she's going to check our papers. So I headed to the reception area of the company where all other applicants who took the exam were waiting there. After few minutes, the HR came with some letters. The letters actually contain a message whether an applicant passed the exam or not. That time, since I'm exhausted already, I don't even felt any fear or worry if ever that I was one of those unlucky applicants. All I wanted was to get out of that place. If I'm not mistaken, five letters were given to the first five applicants who finished the exam ahead of me. I haven't received any letter at that time since I just submitted my papers a few minutes ago. The HR also instructed the applicants who had received the letters to stay if he/she managed to pass the exam and of course, to leave for those who didn't made it. Surprisingly, only one applicant remained and the rest of 4 applicants left the place...(including the 3 noisy girls).. And then, the HR went back to her table. After few minutes of waiting and talking to that applicant who managed to pass the exam and with other applicant who has been waiting also for the verdict, the HR returned calling my name. She asked me if why I didn't answered the last item of the exam, so I just told her that I thought I was running out of time since the other applicants had left the room. She even told me that I could have passed if ever I answered the last item. She also said the same thing with that other applicant who has been waiting for the result of the exam. I'm not really expecting that this will happen and the HR told us to finish first the exam. So, I and the other applicant headed back to the room and started answering the last item of that exam. After a while, both of us were through and passed our papers to the HR. Again, we were told to wait for the result at the reception area. And then, the HR came with letters and this time, one of it was for me. Since we were four on the reception area, including 2 other applicants and the other applicant who was also told to finish his exam. Fortunately, I was one of the lucky applicants who passed the exam. Only 1 of us left the place and the three of us were instructed with our interview schedule. Due to availability issues of the two other applicants, they were scheduled for an interview in Thursday while I was scheduled for the interview tomorrow and since the result were announced already at around 12:30PM, I wasn't able to attend my another scheduled examination for other company also scheduled on the same time. >>sigh<<
When I entered the room (their conference room I think), there were some applicants who were taking the exam already. (The exam is supposedly scheduled 9am and then, there were applicants who arrived earlier than the scheduled time. They don't seem so excited..hahaha..) Thinking that my so-called "competitors" had answered already some of the items on the IQ test, somehow I felt worried that I may not be able to answer all the items of it. But then, my worry had gone when I found out that the entire exam is not a time-pressure type. So, I just started answering the 75 items of the IQ test and found something unusual..
While I'm about to answer the exam, I noticed that the questionnaire has already answers on it. So, I was afraid that the checker will notice it so I returned to the receptionist and told her about the answers in the test questionnaire. She even gave me a new questionnaire and I headed back to the conference room for me to start answering the IQ test. While I and other applicants were so busy answering the test, a group of 3 girls sitting beside me, were making some noise and unnecessary sounds (since they knew each other, maybe classmates in college.) What's more even irritating was they tend to ask answers from each other since there's no other proctor inside the room who will watch us while taking the exam. And after answering the exam, they even keep on talking as if no other people were still not done with the exam and that includes me. I knew that other applicants were also annoyed of their laughs and noises, but then, all of us were still concentrating on the exam. After an hour I think, I'm done already with the IQ test and submitted my answer sheet and questionnaire with other applicants who answered the exam ahead of me.
The HR, who happened to call me yesterday, now entered the room and gave the second set of the exam. Though I found the IQ test very simple, I was surprised with the Programmer aptitude exam given to us. It was totally more complicated than the first test and contains ten problems that must be answered logically showing how you come up with your answer for every item. I had a very hard time understanding how am I going to answer this so I just read and read and read the instructions being provided as well as its examples. After reading the instructions a couple of times, I started answering the exam. While answering the exam, the 3 noisy girls had really annoyed me a lot that time because they don't even answering the exam and were just talking with each other (I guess they just totally surrendered and never even tried to answer the second test..) I was feeling mad at that point because they were even distracting me. I'm not trying to judge them but they were acting unprofessionally already (knowing that no other company's employee was around to watch them). But then, though I felt so irritated and annoyed with those girls, I continued answering the exam. After almost three hours of answering the exam, most of the applicants went out from the room to give their questionnaires and answer sheets to the HR. Since, I'm not really expecting that I'm going to pass the programmer aptitude exam, I didn't even tried answering the last item of it, even though I managed to answer all the 9 items. I was also expecting that the checking of the exam will not happened on the same time and the HR will just call me if ever I passed the exam. Totally tired, exhausted and hungry that time (since its lunch time already and I haven't eaten my breakfast), I was really hoping that we were allowed to leave the building. But then, when I passed my answer sheet and questionnaire, the HR told me to wait for some time because she's going to check our papers. So I headed to the reception area of the company where all other applicants who took the exam were waiting there. After few minutes, the HR came with some letters. The letters actually contain a message whether an applicant passed the exam or not. That time, since I'm exhausted already, I don't even felt any fear or worry if ever that I was one of those unlucky applicants. All I wanted was to get out of that place. If I'm not mistaken, five letters were given to the first five applicants who finished the exam ahead of me. I haven't received any letter at that time since I just submitted my papers a few minutes ago. The HR also instructed the applicants who had received the letters to stay if he/she managed to pass the exam and of course, to leave for those who didn't made it. Surprisingly, only one applicant remained and the rest of 4 applicants left the place...(including the 3 noisy girls).. And then, the HR went back to her table. After few minutes of waiting and talking to that applicant who managed to pass the exam and with other applicant who has been waiting also for the verdict, the HR returned calling my name. She asked me if why I didn't answered the last item of the exam, so I just told her that I thought I was running out of time since the other applicants had left the room. She even told me that I could have passed if ever I answered the last item. She also said the same thing with that other applicant who has been waiting for the result of the exam. I'm not really expecting that this will happen and the HR told us to finish first the exam. So, I and the other applicant headed back to the room and started answering the last item of that exam. After a while, both of us were through and passed our papers to the HR. Again, we were told to wait for the result at the reception area. And then, the HR came with letters and this time, one of it was for me. Since we were four on the reception area, including 2 other applicants and the other applicant who was also told to finish his exam. Fortunately, I was one of the lucky applicants who passed the exam. Only 1 of us left the place and the three of us were instructed with our interview schedule. Due to availability issues of the two other applicants, they were scheduled for an interview in Thursday while I was scheduled for the interview tomorrow and since the result were announced already at around 12:30PM, I wasn't able to attend my another scheduled examination for other company also scheduled on the same time. >>sigh<<
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