"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar."
~ Raymond Lindquist
I think this is going to be a year of experimenting. I decree thus 2012 as a "trying the water with the tip of my toe" year :)
Today I took my first EPSO exam for the position of Communication Officer for the European Institutions Not because I'm looking for a job, but because I love challenging myself.
I think everybody should try it. Not necessarily because it offers the opportunity to work abroad for a EU body, but because the test is really fun. Before taking it I read a lot of things about it and was a bit scared. They were saying that there are special courses and books training you for this. But shhh you don't need that if you still got your 6th grade math skills with you and a bit of common sense. But, if I pass I am officially a genius :)
The test has 6 levels - verbal, numerical, abstract reasoning and professional capabilities (accuracy and precision, prioritizing and organizing and situational judgment). The difficulty stands mostly in the fact that each of them has to be solved in a certain period of time. For example in the verbal reasoning you have 20 questions (texts that need to be read) in 35 minutes. I did feel the pressure and in the numerical section I failed to answer a question because I was out of time.
There is nothing difficult in the questions per se. As I was saying the numerical are 6th grade - calculating percentage mostly. In the abstract reasoning you have to continue a raw of figures with the missing one. This is my favorite game, though I mostly fail :) but it was fun to remember the Mickey Mouse magazines I used to collect which had this type of exercises.
I'll get my results in about a month, hope I don't forget by then.