Last September, the upper management of the company I work for decided we needed to take a class on our current chosen profession (market research). There were a few approaches we could have taken to this, but ultimately it was decided to enroll everyone in an on-line course. Many of my co-workers thought if they were going to do the work, they wanted a certificate saying they passed. I've never held much stock in "official" papers claiming knowledge, and I was one of the few people who didn't raise my hand in support of this during the final vote.

About three weeks ago, everyone started freaking. You see, our test date had been set and no one had really done much studying. I wasn't too worried. As I worked my way through the readings (and handy on-line self tests), it seemed as though I was informed enough to pass the test. The general feeling, however, was that most of the people were very worried they didn't know enough. They were going to fail.

I thought most of this was just general anxiety about being tested. Working at a company that thrives on deadlines, this type of "I'm not ready" anxiety is rather common. Then again, I haven't taken a college class in almost ten years. Rarely, if ever, were my classes structured like the one I am currently enrolled in. Two tests, 120 multiple choice questions. You must get a 70 to pass.

I'd taken the self tests and averaged out at a 77. This included punting on the math questions (when I took the self tests, I wanted to see if I could guess the answers without working the problems--this did not work). From this, however, I thought I was reasonably prepared for the eventuality.

Thursday morning arrived and everyone was doing last minute studying. This kind of thing (quickly reviewing hundreds of pages of information) never helped me in college, so, instead, I made sure there were donuts, water and a pencil sharpener available for those of us taking the test (over two-thirds of the employees).

I was in good spirits until I read the first question. Convoluted, asking a question wrapped in another question, I realized what the test was really testing: whether or not we were any good at taking tests.

Now, I've never been bad at taking tests, but 120 questions of minutiae, aimed at finding out if you are paying attention to how the question is worded isn't really something I am familiar with.

This is not to say I was incredibly well prepared for the test: I probably studied much less than most of my colleagues. I took my book home a couple of times, but never cracked it. Mostly I studied in the last couple of weeks during work hours (I'm in a bit of a slow time--about to end as projects heat up again). But generally, I know this stuff. I've been working in this industry for over three years.

Most of us finished the test around the hour and a half mark (allotted time: 3 hours). We all eventually retreated to one of the offices and commenced to commiserate. No one--from those who studied their asses off to those who didn't--felt they could say for sure if they'd passed. No one thought they did so well as to be sure they scored a 70. Most of us hoped we did well, but wouldn't be surprised if we failed.

About half of us went to lunch after this and had a drink. I had a blue margarita and then went back to work for an afternoon of meetings. I hadn't had a drink all week (my idea being that I'd retain information if I stayed sober for five days or so), and so my demeanor was a bit surly during those "discussions."

The day finally ended. Many of my co-workers were taking the next day off because of an off-site management meeting. Most of us went out Thursday night and fell completely off the wagon. A few of us (not me) made it to work on time Friday.

So we have a week or so before we find out how we actually did on the test. And many of us will probably have to take it again, which should be an equally delightful experience.

Now, if I could only remember what management wanted to accomplish from this experiment (which cost the company close to $13,000 to run), maybe I'd feel a little better about it all. But all in all, I'd say there are good things about college--but the classes wouldn't be on the list.

Matt Worley has never had a burning desire to go back to college.