Psychological Tests and Pairs of Choices

I'm in the process of doing the tasks that need to be done for seminary and candidacy (the process by which the Lutheran church, the ELCA, will determine if they approve me for ordained ministry).  I've been working on the psychological piece:  the forms and the tests.

This morning, I decided to do the two tests that need to be done on the computer.  The link came with instructions to do this when I had plenty of time, when I had gotten enough rest, when I wasn't frazzled from work (my wording, not the instructions).  The e-mail of instructions told me that each of the two tests could take 30-60 minutes, so I wasn't sure that taking them at the end of a work day made sense.

This morning I had the push-pull reaction that I have almost every morning.  If I take the time to do the writing that I want to do, I don't have time for exercise.  I want to exercise before the sun comes up and before lots of people are out and about--but that's my best writing time.  I am most likely to be able to be focused when I am the only one in the house who is awake and up and about.

This morning, I decided to start a batch of pumpkin bread dough and then do the tests, to forego exercising and writing until later.  And that's what I did.

One test was a vocational/occupational/interest kind of test.  I was given a variety of careers and asked to rate each on a scale of 5 from most interested to most disinterested.  I was told not to think about whether or not I had aptitude or training, just whether or not I would be interested.  Then I worked my way through a similar set, but was asked about how I would want to spend my free time.  I was mildly to very interested in most of them, except for accounting, tech support, and military types of things.

The other test was the Myers-Briggs.  I've taken that type of test before, but I can never remember how I scored.  The test gave me pairs of words and phrases and situations and asked me to mark the ones most like me.  I tried to go quickly and not overthink it all.

And yet . . . and yet:  would I prefer to be at a party where I'm talking with just one person or with lots of people?  It depends.  Several times, the test tried to assess whether or not I want to be on a schedule or more free, and if scheduled, how far in advance?  It depends:  am I on vacation or at work?  How overscheduled have I been feeling?  Who's in charge of the scheduling, me or someone with completely different interests?

So I tried to choose and not to think too much.  I'll be interested to see what the results are.