Getting my UA 393 rank felt different.
After IUEC and IBEW 332, I had gotten used to disappointment. Not failure exactly, but that quiet letdown of landing much lower than I hoped.
Then UA 393 came back.
Top 10.
That was the first time in this process where I felt like the studying really showed up in the result.
I do not want to overstate it. A rank is not the same as being hired. There were still people ahead from the previous list, and I still had to wait.
But emotionally, it changed the picture.
For once, I was not trying to convince myself that a low rank might still work out.
I had a real shot.
That mattered.
The way UA 393 explained the ranking also felt clearer to me. You are ranked in the batch you test with, and people from the previous list are still ahead. It is not the same as a list where your rank keeps moving around every time new applicants test.
That made the waiting feel different.
Still waiting.
But different.
The other big thing is that UA 393 did not conduct interviews in the process I went through. The rank was based on the test.
That means the test mattered a lot.
If you are applying to a program where the test determines your rank, study more than you think you need to.
Do not aim for barely passing.
Aim to be competitive.
That was the lesson for me.
The earlier tests helped me prepare. The repeated studying helped. The time management helped. The discomfort of previous disappointments probably helped too.
I left that part of the process feeling hopeful again.
Not guaranteed.
Hopeful.
And honestly, after a long stretch of waiting and uncertainty, that felt pretty good.