COBIT 5 and my fear of exams

Earlier on July 17-19, 2013, two of my colleagues and I attended a COBIT 5 foundation certification course, which culminated in a 50-item examination that we had to pass. COBIT 5 is a business framework that provides an end-to-end view for the governance and management of enterprise IT. This latest edition follows COBIT 4.1 and has expanded its scope by integrating other major frameworks, standards and resources like ITIL, and related standards from the ISO.

As mentioned in a prior post, I have an irrational fear of exams, so this stressed me out to the max. Usually I'd go to trainings with nary a care in the world but because this one was a certification course, there was a lot of weight on my shoulders. I was scurred (scared).

In retrospect, I think I was scared because:

I'm afraid of failure. Having made some advancements in my professional career, I realized, can also cause some degree of insecurity. I think there's a certain pressure to pass because of one's position and tenure and that there's also an associated shame in not passing. This is also probably why I've always shied away from those CIA and CISA exams.

I'm not used to exams anymore. Geez, my last real exams were the CPA board exams! And that was ages ago!

I have poor study habits. I'm certainly not used to studying anymore. Why, you have all the references at work and on the internet if you need them! And then this course was all about theory and concepts, and oh, how I've always hated that. I've always preferred essays in exams. Well, actually, I've never really had any solid study habits to begin with.

I might be charged. Although ridiculously unlikely, what if the cost of the whole course (which didn't come cheap, by the way) was deducted from my salary if I didn't pass? Poor me.

I'm lazy. But of course! Forgetting about TV, social media, or just sitting down because you have to study? Haha!

****************
The examination papers arrived from Malaysia the day before at the ISACA Manila office and was only opened by our speaker/facilitator Mr Reginald Nery--who, by the way, has a collection of acronym-suffixes way longer than his whole name--about an hour before the set exam time. Although the test papers and answer sheets were mailed back to Malaysia for official machine validation and checking, Mr Nery immediately did an unofficial check using the answer key provided.

It was nerve-wracking to wait for him to get to each of our papers and announce our scores. It was even more stomach-churning because my colleagues and I were the last three to be called.

Finally he called my candidate number (yes, like a beauty pageant), checked out who I was, began counting, and then... 43! I passed! I was so relieved and happy because aside from passing, I got the second-highest score in my batch. One of my colleagues scored 44, the highest, while the other also managed a 43. So we were all in high spirits because we felt that somehow, we didn't shame the company we work for. But still, what if the official results were different?

It's official!

Then last Thursday we got an email from Mr Nery officially informing us of the good news and that our certificates were coming. Also, our scores held up. Now it was official and now it can be told: we are COBIT(F).