Post #4

Jake Byma
Seasons Center
2/16-2/20
7.5 hours worked


1.  Well, what I did this week was fairly typical of any other week.  On Monday I went in to do some observation hours.  Thankfully, there were no cancellations this week.  I observed a 13 year old male go through some tests.  It was fairly obvious he had troubles concentrating and sitting still.  The tests also took a bit of time because one of the subtests has the subject read a passage and then answer some questions.  The subject has an unlimited amount of time to answer.  And this client took a long time to read.  Also, he had about a 275 T/F questionnaire to fill out that took him a very long time.  Tuesday was basically a grading day the whole time.  I cam in before my class to grade a few tests and then after class came back to grade some more tests.  We also started working on how to score one of the tests on the computer which saves a bunch of time.  Trevor also showed me a bit more on entering scores into spreadsheets for client case files. 
2.  The days actually go by a lot quicker than one would imagine.  I felt like 5 hours of grading tests on Tuesdays would really drag on but it isn't that horrible.  You stay pretty distracted adding everything and cross-checking charts to think about how remedial everything gets.  I am also starting to get more efficient at grading the tests.  I still try to take my time so that I don't mess up.  I wonder how much slower I am at grading tests than Trevor.  I am really grateful though with how patient Trevor has been with me.  He is more than willing to answer questions I have about things he probably has answered for me two or three times.  He is also very happy to take time to teach me how to do everything properly because that means he saves time later on with me grading tests that he won't have to. 
3.  I always feel a bit embarrassed when I make a minor mistake, like adding up numbers wrong or looking at the wrong row/column in a chart and writing the wrong number down as a result.  But Trevor has been very gracious with correcting me on those mistakes.  I'm also curious how they company is going to deal with their spacing issues (a very cramped Sioux Center office) and understaffing in the psychometrics department with increasing demand and the possibility of testers leaving. 
4.  A proper way to bring up that I would be interested in staying on after graduation if they would have me.  I am not sure how to get that conversation started and not seem pushy or assume they would want to hire me or interview me.