Skip to main content

Back to School: Round 3, Week 1

This is it! The final block of schooling for my apprenticeship! After this, I have enough hours to switch from Apprentice Class to Journeyperson Candidate, which means I have completed the requirements for my apprenticeship, and qualify to write my Certificate of Qualification exam.

I'll be honest this first week of school has been tough, as I've been dealing with the fallout from a car accident two weeks ago. Thankfully the first week is mostly introduction to the courses and some review from the last term. Due to the college strike last Fall, our 10 week course has been reduced down to 9. The classroom hours are the same, just spread out over less weeks. In addition to that, the Certificate of Qualification Prep Course has been made mandatory by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development.

The Certificate of Qualification exam has such a high fail rate (for its high level of difficulty) that many people have to take it a second or third time. To assist those to pass on the first attempt, they've changed the rules on the prep course. The only issue with the method of distribution for our group is that the classes run concurrent to our Advanced level classes. We haven't learnt everything we may be tested on yet. Previously it would run as an extra week after you've completed the normal 10 weeks of trade school. It certainly adds to our workload.

Even though it's been a couple years since the last time I was in school, it's not taking to long to clear out the cobwebs. In no time, I'll be right back on my game, and ideally by the end, ready to rock the exam to get my license!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Three Seconds

He's going to hit me. If I try to maneuver maybe- Bang! One One-Thousand. The sound of a scream came from somewhere. I realized it was me. I shrink in my seat, recoiling from the impact. The side airbag deployed, grazing the left of my face and shoulder. I barely registered it. Somehow my right hand wasn't on the steering wheel. "I need two hands, two hands on the steering wheel. Steer!" Things were freewheeling now. I'm not in control. What's next? Two One-Thousand. Look left, the airbag was there. Look forward, but my focus was blurred. I could only see on what was happening inside the car. "Pump the brake, pump the brake, pump the brake!" I hit the curb that bounced me up and over the island. Three One-Thousand. "Pump the brake!" I came off the island into the right turn lane, no one was there. The car stopped. I braced for another possible hit. Nothing. I waz vibrating at a higher frequency. Trembling. I ...

The "Social Impacts" of a Female Working with "Mostly Male Construction Workers"

The first time I'd heard anything about comments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on Newstalk 1010' s The Night Side with Barb DiGiulio .  For reference, here is a section of the comments from Mr. Trudeau at the recent G20 summit as posted in an article from the National Post : " Even big infrastructure projects, you know, might now say, well, what does a gender lens have to do with building this new highway or this new pipeline or something? Well, you know, there are gender impacts when you bring construction workers into a rural area. There are social impacts because they’re mostly male construction workers. How are you adjusting and adapting to those?"    A lot of people are focusing specifically on the "social impacts... ...of mostly male construction workers" part in a negative light. I'd agree, it certainly doesn't sound good, does it? The resulting public interpretation of what that comment meant spinned the narrative to that of t...

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

I've been through these stages before. Days blur together, and even weekends have no meaning anymore. I'm on day 10 of hopefully only 13 days in a row of either school or work. I keep forgetting what day of the week it is. The painful part is, if work became available on day 14, I would have to take it.  The last time I was a semi poor college student, I had a lot less to worry about. I was maybe just as busy as I am now, but I had less things to stress about. This time around I have more bills, working 2 jobs and sometimes it's still not enough. Going back to school, after working for 4 years, I know what it's like being able to support myself, and find myself frustrated trying to deal with the change.  Even though I know school is only temporary, and I'm halfway through, I still trip myself up over the day to day, while trying to remember this is all for the best in the end. I always like to keep my life balanced: work time, social time, down time. Rig...