EXAM TIME

Spare time is starting to become a rare thing while approaching exams. This week will be my full body Swedish massage exam.

This is the second practical exam of the year and proves to be a very tough one. It personally has me and many other students under immense pressure due to the strict criteria that requires filling to pass and the fact that if we don't pass it, we will have to pay $200 for another attempt at passing it. Some people that I've spoken to have told me this is not the case with some of the other colleges, you just get to keep at it until you pass.

The day of my massage exam will be this Wednesday at 1pm (practical exam days so far haven't been full 9am-4pm days, we just stay long enough to complete the exam). I'm required to bring in my own 'model' and treat it as a real life client situation (I'm bringing in my little sister). We will go through a consultation process with our client where we will discuss the massage treatment, goals, concerns, nutrition and a few other things. We will be marked on things like the consultation and aftercare process, dress code,  the massage moves and the way we perform them, the duration (1 hour to complete the massage - I went 15minutes overtime last week during in-class practice, which would be an instant fail if I did that in the exam), the draping of the client and a few other things.

No one that I've spoken to seems to be ready for the exam and it's the general consensus among students that we need more time to prepare. I'm not entirely convinced that I'm going to pass as my memory is having a bit of a hard time keeping around 120 separate massage moves in there in the exact order they need to be performed in, despite practicing like crazy.

Unfortunately this subject has been taking up all of my study focus and I haven't been getting all the practice I should be for my other two classes. I'll come back with an update of how the massage exam went later in the week.

News in other classes - We have now moved on from lash and brow to nails (mani/pedi) in one class but have only had 2 classes thus far (one of which I missed). I've still not yet received my lash and brow tint kit or uniform. In facials class we are now performing and practicing a full one hour facial which consists of cleansing, skin analysis, cleansing again, steaming and exfoliating, facial massage, then a mask and a hand massage. The facials practical exam comes up in a few weeks too, so after my massage exam, this is where all the study focus is headed!

Until next time!