Getting worried about taking my ASA 101 exam

[LargeMarge]

Tap on it.

I like Emotional Freedom Technique ('EFT').

Each time I tap, all my fears and anxieties magically melt away.

Occasionally, the result is total... I cannot recall the instigating situation, as if it never existed except in my imagination!

My tapping group experiences similar results -- as a group (aka 'borrowing benefits') tapping simultaneously, we quickly completely eliminate the need to tap further.

[surf_km55]

Study the text book. 100% EZ PZ.

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by dannc

My tractor has stickers all over it written by lawyers. However, one of the stickers has stuck with me, "Safety is a habit" it says. This is really true in so many things.

If one does things over and over, they become a habit. This is good as long as one has learned the correct, safe habits. This is bad, if one has not.

I use a chain saw from time to time and it is the most dangerous thing I do. If I listened to the safety people, I would only use the saw another person around in case I have an accident but then I would never get work done.

When running the chainsaw, I wear a helmet, which as a face guard and hearing protection, heavy leather gloves, eye protection, boots, and safety chaps. The chaps are design so that if the chain saw touches them, the chain clogs up and stops. Hopefully before serious injury time.

I wear that safety equipment without fail. No safety equipment, no operating the saw. Just that simple. One day, I was putting on the safety equipment and got side tracked by something. Start to walk off to work the saw but something was not right. The little man on my shoulder was tapping the helmet quite loudly. What was wrong? I actually stopped walking to check things out. I had forgot to put on the safety chaps.

Having formed a safe habit of putting on the safety gear, let my subconscious mind, aka, the little man on my shoulder, know something was not right and he let me know.

Safety is a habit.

We are doing this on the boat we charter. Other people take the boat out, and what we have learned, the hard way sometimes, is that they don't always leave the boat as they found it. Over time, we have added to check list the things to check before leaving the dock. Habit.

Later,
Dan

+1 This is a fantastic post!

My coach used to say, "it's not practice makes perfect, it's perfect practice makes perfect."

You've gotta practice it correctly, or the habit ends up getting embedded incorrectly. So that safety equipment?
You wear it every time.
You wear it according to spec.
You DO NOT defer or duck wearing it.

Safety is a habit! (I love that.)

LittleWing77

[Rob_P]

UPDATE:

ASA 101 complete.

Passed. Score 100%.

Yes, the stress and worry was real even though I aced the test. I went from 60% on the practice tests to 100% on the actual exam because the low practice scores motivated me to do my best to excel in the final.

Encouraging PM's from members here helped too.

I almost blew it. There were 2 questions about Navigation rules that I was overthinking and couldn't decide which was the correct answer. Eventually I realized what I was doing and stopped my head from running around in circles. Then I walked my way through each possible situation to decide which was stand on and which was give way. I even marked up the test booklet by writing the rules that may apply and then saying yes or no to each one until I got to the correct and only possible answer.

Best way to explain the diagram is 2 sailing vessels, both beam reaching on opposite tacks and sailing head on toward each other with one slightly to windward of the other. Question is: Which is the stand on and which the give way vessel?

The vessel on starboard tack is Stand on. The windward/leeward positioning and making it look like a head on situation is there to mislead. The key facts are opposite tacks (implying one is on starboard tack and the other port tack) and sailing.

The incorrect answer, because the diagram looks like a head on situation, that neither is stand on and both should turn to starboard and pass port to port, is a set up to make you miss if you don't know all the rules. That rule is for power driven vessels, not sailing vessels under sail.

The other possibility is that the windward vessel is the give way vessel. That's also wrong because they are on different tacks, not the same tack.




My toes just got a little deeper into the surf and tomorrow is 1 day closer.

[Knotical]

Congratulations, that’s great news, now, it’s time to sailing ⛵️ 😎

[belizesailor]

Congrats!

[emoji106]

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Rob_P

UPDATE:

ASA 101 complete.

Passed. Score 100%.


My toes just got a little deeper into the surf and tomorrow is 1 day closer.

Congratulations!

[JoeRobertJr]

Originally Posted by Rob_P

UPDATE:

ASA 101 complete.

Passed. Score 100%.

Great job!

[dannc]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

Trying to imagine sailing in safety chaps...

Well, the safety chaps are bright orange and are very visible, unlike, say, leather chaps....


Later,
Dan

[dannc]

Originally Posted by Rob_P

UPDATE:

ASA 101 complete.

Passed. Score 100%.
...

Congratulations.

Knew you could do it unless you psyched yourself out.

Next is ASA 103. Which, now that you have done ASA 101, you know what to expect test wise, so it should be less stressful.

Later,
Dam

[Rob_P]

Originally Posted by dannc

Congratulations.

Knew you could do it unless you psyched yourself out.

Next is ASA 103. Which, now that you have done ASA 101, you know what to expect test wise, so it should be less stressful.

Later,
Dam

The scary part was thinking I had it under control and then finding out on the practice quizes that I didn't actually know anything.

That's what motivated me to really hit the books.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Rob_P

The scary part was thinking I had it under control and then finding out on the practice quizes that I didn't actually know anything.

That's what motivated me to really hit the books.

Now that you have passed, I can reveal that I, too, suffer from written test anxiety. Have all my life.

So much so that, long after I had taken 103 and 104, and passed the on-the-water tests, as well as the practical test my club required to allow me to sail their boats, I was anxious about doing the written ASA exams, even though I knew what would be on them.

Then one day, after a few post-sail margaritas, I found the nerve, went down to the school, and took them both. 93 on the 103 [basic coastal cruising]; 81 on the 104 [bareboat cruising, which is not all multiple choice]. The stickers for my ASA logbook and the updated cards arrived, and I bought a round for that, too.

But I still haven't found the courage to take the 105 [coastal navigation] test, even though I use what I learned there every time I sail. Which also means I can't take the 106 [advanced coastal cruising] test, even though I've passed the course, qualified to sail the boats, and make not-inconsiderable passages, using what I learned.

Which means I don't get those ASA stickers or numbers on my card. And, I guess, tells you something about book learning vs. practical learning. I know someone who passed 105 and 106 who, on a boat, can't tell you which direction the wind is coming from. Some people are good at taking tests. Some, like me, are terrified by them.

But I wasn't going to share that until you passed 101.

[Rob_P]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

Now that you have passed, I can reveal that I, too, suffer from written test anxiety. Have all my life.

So much so that, long after I had taken 103 and 104, and passed the on-the-water tests, as well as the practical test my club required to allow me to sail their boats, I was anxious about doing the written ASA exams, even though I knew what would be on them.

Then one day, after a few post-sail margaritas, I found the nerve, went down to the school, and took them both. 93 on the 103 [basic coastal cruising]; 81 on the 104 [bareboat cruising, which is not all multiple choice]. The stickers for my ASA logbook and the updated cards arrived, and I bought a round for that, too.

But I still haven't found the courage to take the 105 [coastal navigation] test, even though I use what I learned there every time I sail. Which also means I can't take the 106 [advanced coastal cruising] test, even though I've passed the course, qualified to sail the boats, and make not-inconsiderable passages, using what I learned.

Which means I don't get those ASA stickers or numbers on my card. And, I guess, tells you something about book learning vs. practical learning. I know someone who passed 105 and 106 who, on a boat, can't tell you which direction the wind is coming from. Some people are good at taking tests. Some, like me, are terrified by them.

But I wasn't going to share that until you passed 101.

I have a wall in my house where I display all the accomplishments I have achieved in my lifetime. Not the failures, the successes. The pressure to succeed increases every time I add to the wall. With that pressure comes increased tension and anxiety.

When I told my friends that I'd passed my 101 exam, the almost universal response was something like; "And? Everything you do, you do well."

If only they knew how many spaces on my wall are blank and will remain that way.

I didn't want this space to be blank.

[boatman61]

When I was 14 I was awarded an overall Champions Cup when representing my School in the Pakistan Junior Swimming Championships which had contestants from all of West and East Pakistan competing..
First in Freestyle..
First in Backstroke..
First in Breaststroke..
Second in Butterfly..
Second in open ages Diving, 10metre board.
When the Principal presented me with the Cup at assembly I thought it would be nice to offer it to the school for its Trophy display.. two days later I found out he had given it to the Team Captain who had placed in just two events..
I never bothered with awards after that.. just knowing what my capabilities are is enough.. not what others think.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by Rob_P

I have a wall in my house where I display all the accomplishments I have achieved in my lifetime. Not the failures, the successes. The pressure to succeed increases every time I add to the wall. With that pressure comes increased tension and anxiety.
.....
I didn't want this space to be blank.

Remove the "list of accomplishments" from the wall. That wall is holding you back. The wall is always empty anyway, whether you know it or not...

Originally Posted by boatman61

...just knowing what my capabilities are is enough.. not what others think.

Exactly, know what you can do, and just importantly, knowing what you can't, is what is important. Not a piece of paper or an icon. Sometimes one NEEDS that piece of paper, but I have only needed The Paper a few times in life, and the paper I do have, does not even get anywhere close to showing my capabilities and skills.

Later,
Dan