I Took the CDA Exam… and It Was Not What I Expected

Hi hi! Guess who just finished taking their CDA exam?

Yep. Me. I did it!! 🎉

And let me tell you… I spent way too much time stressing about this exam. Which, if we’re being honest, is kind of ridiculous. I know the material. I’ve been working in childcare for almost two decades. I absolutely know what I’m doing.

But somehow my brain still went into full overthinking mode.

I had been preparing for weeks, so let’s talk about what the CDA exam experience was actually like.

First, there’s the training and the portfolio. Uploading the CDA portfolio was its own adventure (and not always a fun one), but that’s a story for another post.

Once that was finished, it was time to prepare for the exam.

So naturally, I googled every free CDA practice test I could find. And I took all of them. Every single one.

The weird part? They all felt too easy.

Which immediately made me suspicious.

Like… surely the real exam is harder than this? Am I being tricked? Is this some kind of educational trap?

So I turned to ChatGPT and basically begged it to make the questions harder because I was convinced the real exam was going to be brutal.

Spoiler alert: my brain was doing the most.

Then came test day.

The closest testing center was about an hour away, so I made the drive and arrived a little early. There were a lot of steps before I could even sit down to take the test.

I had to sign in on multiple sheets, turn off my phone, and leave my purse, watch, and basically every personal belonging with the testing proctor. (I think that’s what she’s called?) Once my stuff was safely locked away, I went into the testing room.

And then the exam started.

And honestly?

It was not what I expected at all.

At first I actually felt kind of disappointed in myself

. But I focused on the questions instead of watching the timer or worrying about how many questions were left. I just worked through them one by one.

About 20–30 minutes later, I was finished.

Cue the second wave of panic.

Because the exam gives you more than two hours to complete it, and there I was… done in half an hour. My brain immediately decided something had gone terribly wrong.

So I went back to the beginning and read through every question again.

After double-checking everything, I finally ended the exam at about 45 minutes. And surprisingly, I felt really good about it.

Then came the waiting.

My results arrived sometime in the middle of the night, which meant I woke up to the best notification ever: I passed! 🎉

Even better, based on my score, I don’t need a verification visit.

Apparently with the newer digital portfolio process, if you score high enough you can skip that step. Which I have mixed feelings about.

On one hand, it’s definitely a relief. The person who was willing to do my verification visit would have had to drive pretty far, and having someone observe and evaluate your teaching is definitely nerve-wracking.

But on the other hand, the verification visit is the part where someone actually sees you doing the job in real life. Without that step, there isn’t really a moment where someone confirms, “Yes, this person can absolutely do this work well.”

So it feels a little bittersweet.

But at the end of the day, I’m officially done with the CDA exam, and that feels pretty amazing.

Now I just have to survive the rest of the CDA certification process… which I’m sure will come with its own slightly chaotic adventures.