Been There, Done That
Well, I took the LSAT this past Monday. Since I don’t' get my scores back for three weeks, I don't want get my expectations up too high, but I say with a lot of confidence that I believe I did very well. Very well as in getting a 170 or higher (translation: approx 95 percentile or so).
I woke up Monday morning knowing that this was the day I had just spent the entire past month working up towards. All of the blood, sweat, tears, and who knows how many prayers... I don't think I've had so many people praying for something in my whole life.
I had my first Chemistry class at CLC that same Monday night, so I went to the Grayslake train station so that when I got back I could hop right over and try to catch class as early as I could. I took the 11am train which arrived downtown at 12:18pm. One problem: I had to be checked in at John Marshall Law School (location of the test) by 12:30pm. So I get off the train and start running the second the door opens. As I am weaving through the masses on the street on that warm early afternoon my backpack with all of my LSAT prep books is hopping up and down scraping my back. I still have scabs from the rubbing. The only thing going through my mind is not so much "this is the most important test you've ever taken thus far" or "this results of this test are going to affect the rest of your and your future family's life", but "I really hope I get there on time!" =) I did arrive exactly at the law school at 12:30pm huffing and puffing and very moist with sweat. Thank Goodness. They took my thumbprint and checked my ID and directed my upstairs to the fifth floor where the room I would be taking my test would be. I think several rooms in the school were administering tests (LSATs).
Anyways, I arrived at the room and found my assigned spot and within a couple of minutes (12:35pm) they handed out our test books. Thankfully, they took about 30 mins to talk about the rules and everything so I had time to check my breath and calm down from all of the running I did. Then it was time.
"Open your books and begin section one." 'Here I go' I told myself. It was reading comprehension, my strongest section. The hard part was staying focused enough so I didn't waste time having to refocus and re-read parts of the passage. I did a fairly good job, though it was more difficult than focusing on practice tests. I normally will finish up with 2-3 mins to spare, but this time I had to guess on my last problem. At least I didn't have to guess on an entire section or two like I used to when I first started practicing for the test and most people end up doing.
The LSAT consists of five 35 min multiple choice sections with a 35 min essay. The rest of the test went very well. I got to every question with time to spare. Something quite rare and remarkable. The test just felt easier than a lot of my practice tests. Perhaps it was because I had given my brain a day and half to rest and I was just ready to hit hard when it really counted. I know for sure that our Mother had a lot to do with it. Thank you so much.
The test ended and they let us go at 5:30pm. I jumped up and walked as fast as I could down the stairs, out the building, and the entire way back to the train station. My legs really got a work out and I could feel them toughening up with all of the speed walking I was doing. When I arrived back at the train station I surveyed the track destinations and saw "Track 11: Grayslake" Departing 5:50pm. I quickly looked at my watch and saw that the time was exactly 5:50pm. I bolted down the stairs to the tracks below and ran as fast as I could and hopped in the first door I saw. Within five seconds of jumping on the train, the doors closed and the train slowing began to move away. I couldn't believe how providential it was that I made that train. I was going come to the train station and just hop on the next train and thought I would have to wait 20-30 mins, I would have probably had to have waited a very long time for the next train and would have missed my class entirely which I was already going to be late for since it began at 6pm. Thankfully, I was able to make the lab class that started at 7:30pm and the teacher was very cool about my coming late.
That brings me to this next chapter in my life. School at CLC: Biology and Chemistry. Along with selling Cutco. It's a lot of adjustment, but things will be too busy pretty soon for me to notice.
So now I just need to figure out whether I'm going to Yale or Harvard... ;-)
I woke up Monday morning knowing that this was the day I had just spent the entire past month working up towards. All of the blood, sweat, tears, and who knows how many prayers... I don't think I've had so many people praying for something in my whole life.
I had my first Chemistry class at CLC that same Monday night, so I went to the Grayslake train station so that when I got back I could hop right over and try to catch class as early as I could. I took the 11am train which arrived downtown at 12:18pm. One problem: I had to be checked in at John Marshall Law School (location of the test) by 12:30pm. So I get off the train and start running the second the door opens. As I am weaving through the masses on the street on that warm early afternoon my backpack with all of my LSAT prep books is hopping up and down scraping my back. I still have scabs from the rubbing. The only thing going through my mind is not so much "this is the most important test you've ever taken thus far" or "this results of this test are going to affect the rest of your and your future family's life", but "I really hope I get there on time!" =) I did arrive exactly at the law school at 12:30pm huffing and puffing and very moist with sweat. Thank Goodness. They took my thumbprint and checked my ID and directed my upstairs to the fifth floor where the room I would be taking my test would be. I think several rooms in the school were administering tests (LSATs).
Anyways, I arrived at the room and found my assigned spot and within a couple of minutes (12:35pm) they handed out our test books. Thankfully, they took about 30 mins to talk about the rules and everything so I had time to check my breath and calm down from all of the running I did. Then it was time.
"Open your books and begin section one." 'Here I go' I told myself. It was reading comprehension, my strongest section. The hard part was staying focused enough so I didn't waste time having to refocus and re-read parts of the passage. I did a fairly good job, though it was more difficult than focusing on practice tests. I normally will finish up with 2-3 mins to spare, but this time I had to guess on my last problem. At least I didn't have to guess on an entire section or two like I used to when I first started practicing for the test and most people end up doing.
The LSAT consists of five 35 min multiple choice sections with a 35 min essay. The rest of the test went very well. I got to every question with time to spare. Something quite rare and remarkable. The test just felt easier than a lot of my practice tests. Perhaps it was because I had given my brain a day and half to rest and I was just ready to hit hard when it really counted. I know for sure that our Mother had a lot to do with it. Thank you so much.
The test ended and they let us go at 5:30pm. I jumped up and walked as fast as I could down the stairs, out the building, and the entire way back to the train station. My legs really got a work out and I could feel them toughening up with all of the speed walking I was doing. When I arrived back at the train station I surveyed the track destinations and saw "Track 11: Grayslake" Departing 5:50pm. I quickly looked at my watch and saw that the time was exactly 5:50pm. I bolted down the stairs to the tracks below and ran as fast as I could and hopped in the first door I saw. Within five seconds of jumping on the train, the doors closed and the train slowing began to move away. I couldn't believe how providential it was that I made that train. I was going come to the train station and just hop on the next train and thought I would have to wait 20-30 mins, I would have probably had to have waited a very long time for the next train and would have missed my class entirely which I was already going to be late for since it began at 6pm. Thankfully, I was able to make the lab class that started at 7:30pm and the teacher was very cool about my coming late.
That brings me to this next chapter in my life. School at CLC: Biology and Chemistry. Along with selling Cutco. It's a lot of adjustment, but things will be too busy pretty soon for me to notice.
So now I just need to figure out whether I'm going to Yale or Harvard... ;-)
posted by Matthew at 11:08 PM
2 Comments:
Thank you Tim. I really didn't quite share your confidence, but I guess you were right. Well... we'll see when the results come in, but nevertheless. =)
I'm so proud of you Matthew!
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