This year has been filled with challenges, but most importantly, successes. I began my academic journey in early 2021 with a new purpose and goal. I piled on class after class, semester after semester, to enter a very specific, niche program (associate degree). Only 2 schools in California offer this degree, and I, fortunately, happened to live near one of them. Before I could apply for the program, I decided to get a couple of somewhat related minors out of the way, as well as the needed prerequisites.
At the end of 2023, I applied to the program and was accepted as an alternate due to the fact that my final grade for a prerequisite was not finalized yet. Over 100 students apply for this program every semester, yet only 30 get accepted. Some in my cohort had applied multiple times before they got accepted. Thankfully, after my grades came through, I was accepted.
This program was the hardest 2 years of my academic life. In my first semester, I had 3 in-person classes twice a week that totaled about 8 hours a day. That, on top of my full-time job, taking up the other 5 days of the week, meant non-stop work for 16 weeks at a time. Grades were not divided normally in this program. Gone were the notions that 70% equaled a C, 80% equaled a B, and 90% equaled an A. No, this program was designed with a grade scale to match the National Board Exams (NBEs) grade scale, which was the end goal of the program. A C was 75%, a B was 84%, and an A was 93%. In the first semester, if you failed a class, you were dropped out of the program and had to reapply the following year (not the following semester, as the deadline to apply was over before final grades were out). Every semester that followed held the same format. 2 to 3 classes twice a week, ranging from 6 to 8 hours for 16 weeks at a time. No days off.
To say I struggled these past 2 years would be an understatement. All I did was school, work, and nothing else. My husband, being the saint that he is, picked up the slack on chores and dinners during the entirety of our marriage (I even had to do homework on our honeymoon!) to make sure the household was taken care of to the best of his ability.
This last semester was a testament to our skills and knowledge as aspiring ______s. The National Board Exams are divided into 2 exams. One tests your knowledge on the Arts, and the other tests your knowledge on the Sciences. There are 5 areas or subjects making up the Arts portion and 4 areas or subjects making up the Sciences portion. Our final class was a preparation for those exams. The first day of class consisted of taking two 200-question exams (pretests) that tested your knowledge of the entire program. Then every week would be an exam on one of the 9 subject areas. If you failed an exam, you could not move forward to take the next exam. You had to keep taking it until you passed. I failed 4 out of the 9 exams. After those exams in the 10th week, we had to take another two 200-question exams (posttests) to re-test our knowledge. Then we had Thanksgiving break to study for the Practice National Board Exams (PNBEs).
Like the NBEs, the PNBEs are divided into 2 exams: Arts and Sciences. You take the Arts first, and if you fail, you fail the entire semester and must retake the class. If you pass Arts but fail Sciences, you fail the entire semester and must retake the class. If you pass both, then you may take the final and finish the class. My class had 24 students, and only 19 passed. Even though the semester is now over and you received a passing grade, that does not mean you are eligible to graduate with that degree. Now you must apply (and get accepted) to take the actual NBEs. The last requirement to graduate and receive the degree is to sit and take the exams (you don't need to pass them, though, you just need to take them).
My sacrifices, my challenges, my perseverance, which began 4 years ago has led me to accomplish an incredible feat all before my 35th birthday. I finished this program and tackled every hurdle it threw at me. I passed the PNBEs and beat the final bosses (NBEs). I studied my ass off and sacrificed my physical and mental health to complete this goal, and it is done.
2026 is a year of new beginnings. Though I am not done with school yet (bachelor's is next [the only one in the state for this program]), I am done with the insanity and chaos it brought. I will finally get to have these things called "days off" which I am told normal people have.
As for writing, my creative output was, naturally, minimal these past 2 years, but I plan on changing that next year. I miss writing and reading for luxury and plan to start both those again this coming year. Diary of a Vampyress will come out from Hippocampus Press in 2026. The art still needs to be finalized, and hopefully, we'll get a date after that.
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