NATIONAL ALCHEMY EXAM
~UPDATED AS OF DECEMBER 18, 2005~
~UPDATED AS OF DECEMBER 18, 2005~
Alrighty, I bet quite a few of you are eager to take the exams, but have thus far been unable to take it due to events that have occured in not only your personal life, but mine as well. Since it takes too much time and effort to sort through various PMs to figure out the answers to a person's test, I've decided to move this test to e-mail. You will let me know when you can take the test by PMing me on a specified day of the week, and you will have a certain amount of time to send me the answers via E-MAIL before the time is up. Failure to send in the answers on time, completed or not, will automatically make your testing session null, and you will have to take it again some other time. The exam itself is the same, and I may just end up sending you the whole shabang. There are three main sections of the alchemy exam, all of them being as follows:
Written Exam: This is basically as it sounds, a test on your knowledge of alchemy. You will be typing up your answers, which shall be given to me by either PM or AIM/MSN IM. There are four portions of the written exam that will be given you you at a time, each one that you will be timed on. These four portions are:
Basic Alchemical Knowledge From the Show (and real life),
Identifying other State and Renowned Alchemists of Our Time,
Identifying the Origins/Purpose/Users of Specific Alchemy Arrays, and
Alchemy in Our World: Real Life Alchemists and Alchemy.
Interview: At the end of your written exam, I will perform an 'interview' with you, in which you basically explain why you want to become a State Certified Alchemist (it can be any reason, although reasons such as 'it'd kick a** to be a State Alchemist' or 'I want the health care benefits' won't win you any brownie points). It is to be at least one paragraph long (About five sentences per paragraph, folks. I won't count it as a paragraph if there are only three or four sentences.). Proper spelling and grammar is a MUST, so no AIM speak, 1337, or anything else like that. If you DO write up your interview like that, then you automatically fail. State Alchemists are known to be the cream of the crop, not illiterates.
Demonstration: Basically, this part requires a bit of roleplaying on your part. You will write the roleplaying portion of this section in third person (like normal stories). However, you must also explain in as much detail as you can (backing it up with scientific facts and such will really help you) how your alchemy works. The detailed instructions are on the actual exam page, and I'll give them to you when you take the exam. In the mean time, get ready for lots of typing.
Alrighty, now that we have that part cleared, let's give you some sources to study from!
Alchemical Symbols - Not all the stuff on this page is going to be used. In fact, you should look for a certain seven 'somethings' that are listed somewhere. Try clicking on some of the buttons, you might find it. razz
THE Alchemy Website - This website concerns alchemy in REAL LIFE, so it's very useful for the portion that will probably prove to be the most difficult. This website is vast, and covers many things that probably won't be on the exam. However, all the answers can be found on this website for the portion concerning alchemy in real life.
FullMetal Alchemist - (check the alchemy section) - I don't even need to really say it. Most of you all know this website already, which is all good. Just remember those arrays...
Wikipedia's FullMetal Alchemist Section (a must read for those who don't mind spoiling things for themselves) - This is VERY informative, as it includes information on both the anime AND manga, all put together very accurately.
Wikipedia's Alchemy Section (for real life alchemy) - This is also very nifty for the portion of the written exam that deals with real life alchemy.
If you still have questions or comments, feel free to ask them either here or in a PM. I am not making a list of people who are taking the exam anymore, since keeping it up to date is being too much of a bother to me. I may change this later, but for now, that feature is gone. The exam is first come, first serve, people.
NOTE: If you do not take the exam on your given test date that you originally applied for, I'll automatically sign you up for the next session.
MAJOR NOTE: If you have AIM, MSN IM, or any other similar programs (such as Google Talk or Trillian), feel free to request a testing session done live. These sessions may last from one hour to one and a half hours, depending on how things are going at the time (for the test taker, and when the test was initiated). This is only to be used as an alternative to the new e-mail system, in case you prefer talking to a person in real time as opposed to e-mails.
WHEN YOU PM ME AND TELL ME THAT YOU WANT TO TAKE THE TEST, YOU MUST PROVIDE ME WITH AN E-MAIL ADDRESS THAT YOU USE, SO THAT I MAY SEND YOU THE EXAM QUESTIONS. If you do not provide me with an e-mail address, then I will simply not send you the questions, and you'll have to wait until the next time you can take the exam. I will NOT spam you with crap or send you viruses or something stupid like that, so don't feel worried about that. The e-mail address I've provided for you all is just a means for me to store your answers.
However, since it's e-mail, there are certain guidelines you MUST follow...
First off, since I promised that I'd never spam you, you in turn must promise to never, EVER spam me. Call it equivalent exchange, if you'd like, but spam is very annoying either way, and it takes up too much space.
Second, since it's a Gmail account, that means that even after you've taken your test several times, I'll still have all of your answers from each instance on record. 2.5 GB of space, baby. twisted Thus, if you feel that there waas a mistake in the grading, I can always look back at the past results for whatever test you took to verify those claims, and other things like that.
Third, you (the examee) are to send the ENTIRE TEST in one e-mail, as opposed to my previous multiple PM system. Too many e-mails get messy and things end up getting mixed up, so this is to make things easier for both me and yourself.
Fourth, you MUST include a subject title that contains your character's name, rank, headquarters, and the day's date. If you cannot fit all of that information in, then just use your character's last name with rank, but make sure that you include the date. Here are some examples for the subject titles...:
General Eliu Zhang, Southern HQ, December 18, 2005
General Zhang, Southern HQ, Dec. 18, 2005
Gen. Zhang, S HQ, 12/18/05
You can make it as short or long as you want, but just make sure to have all the info in there.
Last, but not least, please, oh PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS STILL NOT WANKED ABOUT IN FANDOM keep the format of your e-mail CLEAR, ORGANIZED, and READABLE. That means that I wanna see SPACES BETWEEN LINES, and spaces between your answers and the questions, if you choose to copy them down. In fact, I ORDER YOU to copy those questions down on the e-mail so that I don't have to have another window open to grade the exam. If you can't make this easier for me, then it'll be even harder for me to administer the exam.
IN FACT, here is the e-mail that I've been talking about... I know, it's really tough to remember, but I'm sure you'll be able to do it. Remember, spam and die... I mean, spam me and you'll be banned from the exam forever, and put on a blacklist for ALL to see.
So yeah, don't piss me off, yo.
Alchemy Exam E-Mail: AlchemyExam@gmail.com
