What a standardized test can actually teach you

I recently took the Law School Admissions Test, which in my particular case was the culmination of only a couple weeks of studying and one go at a practice test the night before the big day. I arrived at the testing facility, Broward Community College, with my Ziploc bag containing a number two pencil, sharpener, eraser, and keys. I was a bit surprised to see a couple hundred other students, all toting their own baggies. I waited in line and struck up a conversation with a kid who goes to school at NYU. His favorite topics of conversation were: 1) How badly Manhattan wreaks of garbage and 2) How good the weed in Las Vegas is. Since we were near each other in the line we were shuffled along into the same testing room; it was old, lacked A.C, and had more test takers than it had desks. We then had to wait in another line before being officially checked in, the following are the observations I made at the time: firstly it's hot. An absence of of central air in south Florida, in the middle of the summer, in a room with forty other people, is a sin - it's absolutely criminal. I knew that this would be a reoccurring point of concern for the test-takers throughout the process and I smiled because I also knew that this would make the affair just that much more interesting.

The next thing that immediately struck me was the different types of people in that room. A girl dressed in scrubs, some older looking people (maybe in their forties?), about fifty/fifty gender wise, and no people of color.... we except for the test administrators that is. Honestly the most shocking aspect about the motley crew was the older folks and I dreamed about why they were there. "Maybe they've failed this test for the past twenty year, but they keep trying?" "Maybe they have finally decided to follow their passions?" "Maybe they've gotten in trouble with the law, want to represent themselves, and are going about it in the most counter-intuitive way possible?" "Maybe.... they're actually my age but have just aged horribly due to a meth addiction?" Meth does that to people ya know.

Next I spotted the Pros. I labelled them as such because they had strategically pulled two of the tiny desk/chair combos together to form something that almost resembled a table. They had their pencils neatly in a row on one side and an analog watch on the other; they had taken this test before, no doubt about it. If anything their calm attitude revealed that fact. Everyone else in that humid room possessed a sort of nervous energy, there was a sense of comradery amongst us too. Kind of like we were all saying, “Here we go, you and me!” As if together conquering the test would be easier than if alone. The Pros maintained no such delusions, they secluded themselves to the corners of the room and merely glanced up at all of the hustle and bustle around them; they were in THE ZONE.

It was my turn, my ID was cross checked and fingerprints were taken. I found one of the last seats smack dab in the center of the room, next to a large older man who was spilling out of his tiny chair. He had a gold wrist watch and wore rings on his fingers, judging from his accent and his proclivity towards yelling I figured he was from New York. In front of me was a kid whose name I think is Stephen, he at least looks like a Stephen I went to middle school with. I remember him because I heard about him having a brain tumor in high school, non-cancerous but in a difficult spot to operate... I hope that was Stephen. On my other side was a kid with gel-spiked hair, he was wearing basketball shorts and on the whole he was relatively uninteresting. Behind me were two girlfriends, they wore matching velour track suits. They kept announcing to the room (I should make a point of mentioning, because it is a very important point, that everyone announced everything to the whole room. It seemed like any fleeting concern or attempt at a witty comment had to delivered as if on a stage. I found this really interesting.) Anyways, they kept informing all of us that they had a plane to New York to catch and hoped that the test wouldn’t take to long. “Oh yeah, we just have an internship doing PR for only one of the hottest designers.... Oh you haven’t heard of him? Well he’s really important.” And so I suppose by association they thought they were pretty important too.

Let me tell you about the protectors. Two black women, one very thin the other somewhat large. The thin woman also didn’t capture my interest. She never spoke unless spoken too and seemed on the whole dry. The larger woman, Cecil, was an angel: wise and kind, but stern when her trust was broken. She looked up from her bifocals at us and said in a sceptical voice, “so these are our future leaders?” Some of the kids sat up straighter with pride, I looked around and at myself and giggled. There was something larger at work here, Cecil a black woman acknowledging at that moment this room of privileged white kids may be the “future leaders,” and without her they wouldn’t have gotten there. At the time it seemed poetic, but it was a sad poem.

Here’s what went wrong: no A.C, poor classroom soundproofing, and too many students/not enough tests. The heat and the noise from classes that were occurring in the classrooms next to us had people exclaiming, now this seemed to be a favorite phrase since I heard it over and over again, “Well had I studied the LSAT in the desert with a rock concert going on, then I would’ve been prepared for this! I’m going to complain to the LSAC!” I thought this was a funny comment, but it really seemed resonate with people; “Yeah, that’s right!” Next, the lack of tests and the surplus of test takers caused the test to start late. The poor kids who through off that delicate balance were subject to comments like, “Kick the extra kid out! Hahaha no man, I’m just kidding. But seriously...” Laughter, laughter, laughter. For what is considered a gruelling test everyone appeared to be extremely giddy throughout it.

During the thirteen minute break, (note that the test did take six hours total), everyone compared answers of course. They somehow very quickly figured out which section was the “experimental one” (the one which isn’t graded). I still don’t know how they were able to tell... People ate their snacks, went to the bathroom, chit-chatted about the heat, and everyone had a big smile on their face, even if they were complaining about how poorly their doing on the test. Time was called, break was over. The rest of the test went quickly. Cecil did a dance for us in an attempt for entertainment, it worked.

So what are the conclusions? Well, other than my neck muscles being sore the next day from wrestling that monster of a test, I think that room can be seen as a microcosm for humanity at large. In the face of an obstacle a sense of unity forms, as if together we can overcome anything. We are also able to find humor in some of the more miserable situations – despite their complaints, everyone wore a smile. Natural leaders will arise; those who go out of their way to fix the problems, like telling the classroom next door to shut up. Entertainers will appear given the occasion too, and almost everyone wants to be an entertainers, almost everyone wants to be liked. Finally, authority is followed and the system despite its bureaucratic faults works; and we, Cecil’s flock obey, because that was our role.