Sunday, November 27, 2005
I came, I took the test...and I died
The UPLAE was this morning. I did not study. I did not even take out a single sheet off the stack of reviewers that Abet had given me before the Ateneo Law Exam. What was I doing last night? I was reading...non-academic books. I fell asleep late. And I very nearly overslept.
Smart, Edlyn.
So, when I got to the UP Law Center this morning, a long line had already formed. That's okay. After all, it was...well, it was supposed to be...alphabetized. Whether I got there early or not, I should still have ended up at the end of the line. That's what you get when the first letter of your last name is "S". I don't mind since we would all end up in the same room anyway, and we would all be taking the same exam. Who cares whether you end up at the front of the room or at the back?
When I got there, Dianne gave me my good news for the day. The pencils were supposed to be No. 1 pencils. I bought No. 2 pencils yesterday, because that was what we used for the Ateneo exam. I didn't think to look at the test permit and check for the requirements. Why is it that we are always cursed when it comes to the pencils? Ah...who cares? Like they'd really notice what kind of pencil you used.
So, the passed out the test booklets, and one of the proctors gave the instructions. By the way, why was the proctor speaking in such a robotic voice? Just a thought. Anyway, we began the exams. Bam. Just like that, I was snatched from my seat and shot down straight to hell.
The Abstract Reasoning part was hard. So much harder than the few abstract reasoning stuff in the Ateneo exam. But I managed to finish it, though I was sweating towards the end of it. The other parts, the verbal and language parts were...okay. But still very difficult. I've never even heard some of the words we were supposed to define before this morning. Pachydermatous, I've heard. But what the hell is it again? And context clues did not do a thing to help me. But that was okay, that was alright, I think I didn't do too bad on those parts. And then came Quantitative Reasoning. That was when the very devil himself met me and led me by hand to the very core of hell. My God...but that was just...horrible. They actually expected us to finish...what? 40 numbers?...in 30 minutes. That was math. Thirty minutes just isn't enough for math, especially when you're a dunce like me. At first, I was even making use of the scratch paper, solving equations. Then, I glanced at my watch and--crap!--only 15 minutes left and I've only answered about ten questions or less! So, I tried to speed up. Ten minutes. I raced through the numbers, struggling to find shortcuts for whatever formulas were making it into my brain and making outrageous guesses in the end. 5 minutes. No way! I've still got half a column to work on! I barely read the rest of the questions, just picking out what seemed to be the most plausible answers. Then, I heard the sound of the microphone being picked up and knew that the robotic voice would speak soon and say "STOP" in that telegramatic (?) way. This time, I didn't read the questions at all. I just wrote whatever number came to my mind on the rest of the questions and managed to scrawl 2 on the blank space of the last question at the same time that the proctor said stop.
I can't understand it. They allotted 55 minutes for some of the language reasoning and reading comprehension parts. I had about 20 minutes left to go back and check my answers before the proctor stopped us. But they only allotted 30 minutes for math, wherein you have to work on equations? Arg. Bias in favor of math whizzes!!! Haha. Sorry, I'm bitter.
Well, eventually, we finished answering all six subtests in the test booklets. The proctors took the booklets from us. Some people were already retrieving their bags from underneath their seats, getting ready to leave. Well, what do you know? The exam wasn't over yet. The proctors were passing out a new batch of answer sheets. Essay part. EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW: MYTH OR REALITY?
Haha. We thought it was over. Apparently not. So, all bags slipped back underneath the seats, pencils were taken out again and we were writing all over again. Equality before the law: myth or reality? Who are we kidding? Myth! And so, I wrote whatever I can within the 30 minute allotted time while trying to keep it coherent. I have to say, it's a bit hard writing an essay with a pencil. I'm not used to it. I finished the essay, but I only managed to write about 3-4 paragraphs, and I wasn't even able to fill up the entire front page of the answer sheet. When I was through, I glanced around. Can you believe it? Some of them were already writing on the backs of their papers. How the heck did they do that?
Finally, it was over. I think I walked out of the Law Center with a sort of dazed look on my face. Imagine, an exam for more than four straight hours. One of the hardest exams I've ever been unlucky enough to take. There is no way here on earth that I will ever pass that exam. It will take nothing short of a miracle for my name to make it onto the pass list. My Lord can rest in peace now. I'm not going to law school, at least not in UP.
Smart, Edlyn.
So, when I got to the UP Law Center this morning, a long line had already formed. That's okay. After all, it was...well, it was supposed to be...alphabetized. Whether I got there early or not, I should still have ended up at the end of the line. That's what you get when the first letter of your last name is "S". I don't mind since we would all end up in the same room anyway, and we would all be taking the same exam. Who cares whether you end up at the front of the room or at the back?
When I got there, Dianne gave me my good news for the day. The pencils were supposed to be No. 1 pencils. I bought No. 2 pencils yesterday, because that was what we used for the Ateneo exam. I didn't think to look at the test permit and check for the requirements. Why is it that we are always cursed when it comes to the pencils? Ah...who cares? Like they'd really notice what kind of pencil you used.
So, the passed out the test booklets, and one of the proctors gave the instructions. By the way, why was the proctor speaking in such a robotic voice? Just a thought. Anyway, we began the exams. Bam. Just like that, I was snatched from my seat and shot down straight to hell.
The Abstract Reasoning part was hard. So much harder than the few abstract reasoning stuff in the Ateneo exam. But I managed to finish it, though I was sweating towards the end of it. The other parts, the verbal and language parts were...okay. But still very difficult. I've never even heard some of the words we were supposed to define before this morning. Pachydermatous, I've heard. But what the hell is it again? And context clues did not do a thing to help me. But that was okay, that was alright, I think I didn't do too bad on those parts. And then came Quantitative Reasoning. That was when the very devil himself met me and led me by hand to the very core of hell. My God...but that was just...horrible. They actually expected us to finish...what? 40 numbers?...in 30 minutes. That was math. Thirty minutes just isn't enough for math, especially when you're a dunce like me. At first, I was even making use of the scratch paper, solving equations. Then, I glanced at my watch and--crap!--only 15 minutes left and I've only answered about ten questions or less! So, I tried to speed up. Ten minutes. I raced through the numbers, struggling to find shortcuts for whatever formulas were making it into my brain and making outrageous guesses in the end. 5 minutes. No way! I've still got half a column to work on! I barely read the rest of the questions, just picking out what seemed to be the most plausible answers. Then, I heard the sound of the microphone being picked up and knew that the robotic voice would speak soon and say "STOP" in that telegramatic (?) way. This time, I didn't read the questions at all. I just wrote whatever number came to my mind on the rest of the questions and managed to scrawl 2 on the blank space of the last question at the same time that the proctor said stop.
I can't understand it. They allotted 55 minutes for some of the language reasoning and reading comprehension parts. I had about 20 minutes left to go back and check my answers before the proctor stopped us. But they only allotted 30 minutes for math, wherein you have to work on equations? Arg. Bias in favor of math whizzes!!! Haha. Sorry, I'm bitter.
Well, eventually, we finished answering all six subtests in the test booklets. The proctors took the booklets from us. Some people were already retrieving their bags from underneath their seats, getting ready to leave. Well, what do you know? The exam wasn't over yet. The proctors were passing out a new batch of answer sheets. Essay part. EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW: MYTH OR REALITY?
Haha. We thought it was over. Apparently not. So, all bags slipped back underneath the seats, pencils were taken out again and we were writing all over again. Equality before the law: myth or reality? Who are we kidding? Myth! And so, I wrote whatever I can within the 30 minute allotted time while trying to keep it coherent. I have to say, it's a bit hard writing an essay with a pencil. I'm not used to it. I finished the essay, but I only managed to write about 3-4 paragraphs, and I wasn't even able to fill up the entire front page of the answer sheet. When I was through, I glanced around. Can you believe it? Some of them were already writing on the backs of their papers. How the heck did they do that?
Finally, it was over. I think I walked out of the Law Center with a sort of dazed look on my face. Imagine, an exam for more than four straight hours. One of the hardest exams I've ever been unlucky enough to take. There is no way here on earth that I will ever pass that exam. It will take nothing short of a miracle for my name to make it onto the pass list. My Lord can rest in peace now. I'm not going to law school, at least not in UP.
# Lyn found a missing piece @ 7:39 PM 
