I took the written portion of the exam to get it out of the way while I studied for Element 1. The FCC dropped Element 1 shortly after I took the exam. I then had one of the local VEs process my CSCE for the upgrade.
Novice & Conditional in 1963, Advanced in about 1979, Extra about 1987 when I decided to get serious about DXing and actually had a need for the bottom 20khz.