NO MORE LSAT!

The "big day" has come and gone; LSAT day was yesterday. I have been preparing for the test for the last three months: practice tests, two prep books, working problem after problem after problem. I feel like all of my preparation was worth it since nothing took me by surprise on test day. I wish I had practiced taking multiple sections in a row during my practice exams; we literally had about 20 seconds between each section during the real thing. Other than that, though, everything went pretty much the way I thought it would.

I turned in really early on Friday to get a full night's sleep and got up at 6:30 on Saturday morning. My alarm didn't go off but fortunately I've trained myself to get up around that time anyway so I didn't over sleep (Boy, that would have sucked!). I rolled out before 8:00 and got to UMKC about 30 minutes before the final check-in time. The rest of the story is pretty standard: I stood around for 15 minutes waiting for check-in to start, then they checked us in, then I sat in the room for another 20 minutes waiting for everyone else to get checked in, then they read us the instructions for the exam. Something of particular note were all of the hoops that LSAC makes you jump through while taking the LSAT. It's not as simple as filling in your name on the answer sheet. Oh no, you have to sign EVERYTHING, date everything, give a blood sample, finger prints, the whole nine yards. They even make you copy a "certification statement" in cursive, a form of writing I haven't used since elementary school.

After we were finally allowed to start the exam, things went pretty much according to plan. 3 sections, 10 minute break, 2 more sections, then the writing sample. The LSAT's standard format is 2 reasoning sections, 1 reading comprehension section, and 1 games section. All 4 of those sections are scored. Then there's the 5th section which they call "experimental." You're not supposed to know which section is the experimental section, but you know which one it is... you know because IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND THE CORRECT ANSWER ON ANY QUESTION. My experimental section was another reading comprehension section. I did the best on the reading sections all through my preparation but this experimental section really worked me over. I didn't finish and wound up having to fill in B on the last 8 questions. That one hiccup threw me off a little since it was the second section of my test, but I think I recovered and pulled it out.

Normally I get really stressed after an exam, probably even more than i was before, because I worry about how I did on the exam. This time around, not so much. I'm pretty relaxed about how I did, mostly because I don't know how I did. I think I got a lot of questions right but I also know I got some wrong. I can't do anything about it now, so I'm just can't be bothered to worry about it.

Of course, I have nothing to do now that the test is over. I guess I'll start on my next IT certification, although I think I'm going to take a few weeks off of studying so my brain can have a rest.

Megan and I went up to the northland after the test to help Kerry celebrate his 34th birthday. He likes to have Rock Band parties every month or so and it just so happened that his birthday was this month. We hung out for the rest of the day playing Rock Band, meeting new people, grilling out on the deck, and just having a good time.

Highlight: Seeing a girl (Her being a girl isn't the point, I just don't know her name) play expert drums and get a 1000 note streak on pretty much every song. I don't know if she has drum experience in real life but she was tearing it up in Rock Band.

Here are some pics courtesy of Kerry:

The super awesome drummer who is also a girl is in this shot. Also, me rocking on bass.



Proof that Megan will play vidjya games.



Proof that I am infact, married.



Proof that I infact, rock harder than everyone.