Today was the day.

I sat in my dad's car, palms sweating and talking to myself. "Calm down. You'll be fine! Don't make eye-contact, remember everything you've learned. Focus. Focus......" *insert dramatic action music here*

I called Mom and announced that I had safely arrived. I left my cell phone in the cup holder and hopped out of the car. I grabbed my backpack and followed the swarm of public-schooled teenagers toward what I hoped was Building 200. This was it. The day I'd been dreading. Spending my whole Saturday morning taking the SAT surrounded by "normal" adolescents.

Outside of an apparently locked Building 200 was a very small amount of students. All very calmly waiting for something to happen. I saw a guy chattering with some friends and waving his admission ticket around aimlessly, and my heart stopped cold. I forgot my admission ticket. I ran out to the car, and called Mom, who sent Daddy to the rescue.

I stood on the sidewalk waiting for Daddy to get there and watched what seemed like thousands more test-takers seeping into the school. The calm kids that I'd seen sitting outside of Building 200 were obviously the nerds and geeks. Now arriving were the cheerleader/volleyball/popular girls and football/truck guys. Almost late, they sauntered in with their Abercrombie and Hollister labels, perfect hair, and disdainful looks. I was sure that if they noticed me, it was only to criticize my still-wet hair, Seahawks sweatshirt and old loose jeans.

Daddy delivered my left-behind admission ticket, and I hurried back to Building 200. There were at least 100 people standing outside the building. I stood there in the crowd, feeling short and claustrophobic, wondering if we were supposed to be just standing there. I worked my way to the front of the crowd to see if I could figure out what to do. As I squirmed politely through the throng of chattering American teens, a man jumped up on the air conditioning unit and began shouting something I couldn't hear. "Dude, he should like, get a megaphone or something" I heard from somewhere behind me.

Once I finally got close enough to hear what the man was saying, I understood that I was supposed to go over to an inconspicous wall of the building where I would find a list of groupings and room numbers.

First task: Alphabetically determine where your last name falls and remember the corresponding number (mine was T-801-11). Decipher code (Trailer # 801, room 11) and make your way to your designated testing room.

I found Trailer 801 easily, and room 11 was the first room to the left as I entered the building. I presented my recently aquired admission ticket and photo ID (driver's license) and dropped in a desk with relief.

For 15 minutes, we sat waiting for the last students to trickle in. I amused myself by mentally laughing at all the kids who apparently couldn't complete the first task successfully. "Is this the B's?" a guy asked frantically as we got closer to starting without late arrivals. "No," the proctor replied for what seemed like the 10th time, "this is the H's." "Man!" the student exclaimed as he hurried off. I've determined that the illogically placed information sheet is to eliminate anyone who doesn't listen to the man on the A/C unit.

Finally we began filling in our personal information on the answer sheet and test booklets. This was also amusing, as one of the students asked "What goes in box 9, again?" even though the boxes were labeled. *shakes head sadly* I'm not trying to be cruel... that could have been me. But it wasn't. :P

We finally began the test. To my horror, the essay was first. I had convinced myself that it was best for it to be last.. and it wasn't last. I don't know why I thought it was. The essay was the worst part for me. My writing HAS to be inspired. I write blog posts when I'm inspired... I cannot write on demand. And 25 minutes isn't long enough to write a decent DRAFT of an essay! But 25 minutes is all I had. And I filled a page with my almost-essay.

The other 9 sections went fairly well. They weren't as hard as I was expecting. Some of the math was even kinda easy.... most of it wasn't though. The worst part was trying to concentrate and not throw in the towel during nearly 5 hours of filling in circles. And the breaks were ridiculously short. I went out in the hall to eat my snack, and almost got left out! The proctor closed the door on me and I had to rush in to keep them from starting back without me.

When the test was finally over we signed a statement promising not to discuss the problems or essay questions until we got our scores and then were dismissed. I ran to the parking lot in hopes of getting out before the parking lot was crowded with all the other kids leaving. No such luck. It actually took me 10 minutes just to get on the road.

Now I intend to relax. I'm immensely relieved that that is over, and even if I got a horrible score, I'm never going to take the SATs again! Never, ever, ever. I'm really not sure why I took it, because now that I've finally convinced myself that I have the freedom to not go to college if I so choose, I'm determined that I don't want to go to college.

~Lizzie