No. 1 - Of pathways and preparations

 Write about a life-changing decision you or someone you know had to make. Focus on the emotional journey leading to that decision.

At that point it was no longer a question of whether I'd enter law school, it's simply a decision; and though conditioned on me passing the famed UP Law Aptitude Exam (UP LAE), I was pretty sure I'd enter law school in one way or another, in UP or not, but hopefully in UP of course.

The decision was finally made about six or seven years ago (pre-pandemic as they'd call it). I spoke to my boss about entering law school as I intended to enter as a working student, he was supportive of it which added to my excitement - so things were planned, by things I meant:

• Taking the Philippine Law School Admission Test (PhilSAT), supposedly a National Level similar to the LSAT in the US.
• Taking the UP LAE.
• Inquiring about law programs from other schools.

Those are mostly what I had my mind into for quite a while then, an of course daydreaming about the day I finally Elle Woods myself come first day of law school.

I first took the PhiLSAT, it was held in UST, where I finished my undergraduate studies, I fell in line with a lot of aspirants, mostly young and a few quite aged. I managed to pass  a few months later which gave me some confidence that I'll pass the UP LAE as well.

Apart from materials I found online, I also found some second hand books from Book Sale (a local chain of thrift-priced books which are reasonably useable, a lot in very good condition actually). I likewise availed of a two-weekend review thing from a review center called White Elephant, truly a gift haha.

Before the day of the test, I booked a room in a hostel inside the campus, the place looked decent and arguably old, I was able to do some  (just some!) last-minute reviewing that night before I managed to entertain myself into oblivion. Then, a few hours later,  I woke up, ready to take the exam.

Cometh the day...no, cometh not that man.

I took the exam in the law complex where, in brief, I spent too much time in solving just a few questions, I found myself halfway through a chapter a few minutes before the chapter-time ends (each chapter has a time limit) which meant I had to do some plain guesswork for the rest - plain guesswork, not educated. I knew I performed poorly so I enjoyed a few too many servings of chicken wings after, just enough to console me on that day, and perhaps also on the day I'll find out that I did not make it.

That's 1 of 3 chances I'm allowed and, since I am pretty dead set in making it, I decided to take it again.

This time, I had these things in mind:

• Pass the exam.
• Pass the exam.
• Pass the exam.

I sought books from Book Sale again, had a few printed materials offered online, and once again went to While Elephant (but this time I availed of a full-month review service package sort of situation kind of thing) - the level of focus I had then, I really wanted it, I really did.

Cometh the day, and yes cometh the man.

As instructed, spending more than 30 seconds to arrive at a reasonable answer for one questions is an indicator that I needed to move to the next, mark the skipped questions to make educated guesses later. I found myself having enough time to look back at them, properly finishing every question in the exam.

After months of waiting, the list finally arrived, the list has my name on it. This is the initial list, after which a good  5 to 10 people will not make it. And by God's grace - I made it to the final list.

Now I'm on my 5th and final year, I actually have an upcoming exam on Thursday. Okay, one important thing I learned from this writing exercise is that nothing beats preparation when it comes to test-taking. Answering is just 10% of the process, 90% is spent on preparation - so I have to continue preparing for my exams (and papers, and other school requirements) haha. One must not fail to prepare, lest they prepare to fail.