From Fears to Cheers

By Soumya Pattanayak It started out as a longshot. After being put on the waiting list for selection by the

Takoma Park Magnet Program, I was depressed and decided that I wasnt going My verbal skills or so to speak the lack of them resulted in my being on the waiting list for the middle school magnet program at Takoma Park. I had to

to miss the opportunity to get admission into the magnet program for high school.

improve upon my verbal skills in order to make sure I got selected for the magnet program at Montgomery Blair. Math was already my forte. But still I decided to practice both subjects tenaciously.

One day I found out about the magnet prep class organized by Dr.Li. This

discovery couldnt have happened at a better time. Six weeks had already

passed and I was supposed to join Dr.Lis class midstream. Dr.Lis class gave got better.

me many verbal and math test materials to study, and over the course of time, I

The first time I came into Dr.Lis class, I was nervous, mainly because I was not so confident of my verbal abilities. I thought that if I were given a quiz based on the verbal test section, I wouldnt do so well. To some extent I was right; I had to an undiscovered specialty. I was good at the essay section of the test, scoring a 9/12 in the first essay topic Dr. Li had given. I was surprised at this score still remained focused on improving my verbal skills. because I never thought I would receive a good score in my essay. However I

improve on my reading comprehension and my vocabulary. However I also found

As time passed, I got better with reading comprehension and vocabulary. I

encountered many reading comprehension questions and some tough passages too, which augmented my verbal scores. I also received many math questions to

solve in and out of class. Although I could solve about 95% of those questions correctly, it gave me more than enough confidence to take the math section of the test.

In a flash, it was the most important day of my life (so far), it was test day.

Overall, I felt confident about myself, knowing that I practiced a lot for this test the test was easy. I didnt imagine the test could be this easy. Obviously my practice paid off and I felt confident that my performance in the test was prodigious.

and that I am finally ready to take the exam. Except for the vocabulary section

My results finally came in February 9th, and I was overjoyed that I got selected for the Montgomery Blair Magnet program and the Richard Montgomery IB it takes hard work and desire to achieve your wishes. program. My tenacious practice for the test resulted in success. This means that