Math:    51/52
Reading:     48/64
Reasoning:    42/60
Writing:    3/6

Coming from a non-magnet elementary and enrolled in a non-magnet middle school, I thought I had no chance of making it into any of the programs. I took the magnet test to get into middle school blindly with no preparation at all. When I found out all my friends were going to leave me to go, I regretted not going to prepare. I always felt behind my friends, who were all a part of the middle school magnet programs. When my parents enrolled me into Dr. Li, I was ecstatic to finally get a redemption of some sort for not getting into a magnet middle or elementary school. Nevertheless, I was still nervous because of my past failures and the fact that I had never taken tutoring of any sort before. During classes, I listened and took notes from the packets that were given. Dr. Li taught us easy tricks to get to the answer quickly in math, which was extremely useful on the test. Almost everything in our homework and classwork packets appeared on the magnet test, and thanks to Dr. Li, I was able to solve them quickly and accurately.

Mr. Li helped us with our vocabulary, which was the main focus of the English section of the magnet test since they recently switched to CogAT. Like the math section, many things on the English homework and classwork appeared on the magnet test. We also wrote essays for homework and classwork. We were given only a certain amount of time to write the essays in class, which greatly helped with my time management during the test. I was never really confident in any of my abilities because my friends in the magnet programs were so much better than me, or so I thought. A few weeks before the test, we started taking many practice tests. I still wasn’t confident at the time, but when I got my score back, I was so excited. I got the same score, or an even better score than many of my friends from the magnet programs. I couldn’t believe it!

For years I thought my friends from magnet programs were superior, but I still managed to get the same score, or even get a better one than some of them! It was a dream come true. The magnet test and the practice tests were very similar. During the magnet test, I couldn’t help but get nervous, despite all my training and preparation. On February 1st, the results were out. Anxious, excited, curious; these were only a few of the emotions running through my head. I eagerly went to the mail and opened my letter to reveal that I had been accepted to the Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science (SMCS) program at Poolesville High School. Since I was little, I’ve wanted to become a computer scientist. Going to a program that specializes in computer science is amazing. I am grateful that my parents sent me to Dr. Li for magnet preparation. Not only did Dr. Li help me get into the magnet program, but these classes made me feel better about myself. I was no longer the person that had failed to get into magnet, no longer the person that was always below my friends. I now know that I really am as good as, or even better than my friends who had left me 3 years ago, and I am excited for a long overdue reunion at Poolesville High School together with them.