Exit Exam Strategies

     As I mentioned a few weeks/posts past, I had been contemplating my options for taking the exit exam for graduate school.  In case the point wasn't clear, I did sign up to take the test.  It's this Friday, in fact.  For the last few weeks, I had been studying for the test.  The test is in the form of three essays, with a choice of three prompts, one each from three different categories (American literature, British literature, and a general literature catch-all category). The works used for the test are from a list of twelve writers, with a supplement listing of three more works that changes every few cycles of years.  I initially read two of the works (The Scarlet Letter and "Macbeth") back in my college days.  I am fairly certain I had read selections form some writers back in college as well (poetry from Donne and Coleridge, selections from The Canterbury Tales).  I read two more (Moby-Dick and "The Waste-Land") in graduate school.  I also read some poetry from Dickenson in graduate school as well, but maybe not the exact same poems as those highlighted for the test.  I had to read the supplemental work Mrs. Dalloway in both college and graduate school.  (Hated it both times.  I feel that it is a little overrated.) I probably read some portions of Paradise Lost back in college, but that escapes me, for the moment.  I thought I had read "Waiting for Godot" in college as well, but when I looked back over it, I couldn't place it.  I had never read the remaining two main works, Middlemarch and Beloved, or the two other supplemental works, The Women of Brewster Place and The Penelopiad.  I'm not sure I had even heard of the last one, as it is the only work that came out this century.  Still, for the last few weeks, I have been reading these works, as well as going over some of the major critical analysis for them.  I have been hating it.  Sure, such analysis is the foundation of my degree, but it is not something I like.  As I keep mentioning, I consider myself a writer foremost.  While literary criticism is somewhat helpful in that regard, it is the part of this degree that I like the least.  I prefer creative writing most of all.  That is why I should have tried harder to get into a Creative Writing program, instead of sticking it out with the standard MA in English.  I still feel like this degree is going to be a mistake.  Regardless of the outcome of this test, I still have to take two more courses to finish my degree.  I have a choice of three over the Winter and Spring semesters, none of which are screaming out at me.  If I don't pass the test this first time, I have one more chance to take it, either late this coming April or next November, after I will have finished up my course work.  If I don't pass the test on the second try, that's it.  I don't get my degree.  I'm not sure what I would do then.  Even if I do pass my test and get my MA, I'm not sure what I would do then.  I feel that I'm too old to try out for a doctorate degree, but I wouldn't be able to work soon the collegiate level without it.  I have huge doubts about getting into the Creative Writing programs that I would prefer that would get me working immediately.  I definitely don't want to teach on the grade or high school level.  I'm in a 'catch-22' situation.  I have to continue what I'm doing, even though there is no plan afterwards.  If I don't continue, there is no plan to move onto.  Not sure what will happen this Friday, but at least I didn't have to go somewhere to take it.  That wouldn't have been the case if I had taken my courses and test without interruption, and it might not be that way if I need a second chance.  I'm not sure what would happen then.