After two months of studying: creating a study guide, memorizing the line of succession to the presidency, taking every tour I could, I finally took the DC tour guide test today. I heard horror stories. There are 7 different versions. All have pictures. Some have multiple choice and true and false. I couldn't memorize all of the addresses, so I took a calculated risk and only concentrated on the 4 that everyone told me were on the test: Textile Museum (still got it wrong), Frederick Douglass's house (not on the test), Kennedy Center (was on the test), and the White House (everyone knows that). However, my test was 100 short answers, including at least 15 addresses, of which I got about 10 of them wrong.
I was surprised to find about 20 people taking the test, and I was the only female! About half of the group were working for the Old Town Trolley with 3 months of training. They were making me nervous. When I opened the test I counted 76 out of 100 questions that I thought I knew. I quickly answered them, and, the mistake I made was not going back and checking and second guessing myself (didn't we always tell students to go with their first answer? I changed two correct answers to the wrong ones!).
I am pleased to know that the DC Tour Guild is rewriting the test. 100 questions and none about the FDR, Vietnam, or Korean Memorials. Yet, there were two questions on the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and another 4 questions on other churches. My greatest confusion is why a tour guide needs to know who was president when the DC council was created. And, am I a worse tour guide if I confused that rather than 52 columns, there are 54? One of my dear friends said I was sort of like the elementary student lamenting the need to learn long division when we have calculators. Perhaps I am. Chances are 50/50 I will need to take the test again in a couple of weeks!
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