the premature college student

Sarah was a bright girl. Her parents knew that from a very young age. She had reached all of her milestones early, including walking at nine months. The never imagined she would be offered the chance to go to college at the age of eleven, however.

Every year in primary school, the students had to take two tests to see where they were at academically. There was an English based test and a maths-based test. The English based test mainly focused on grammar, something Sarah was shockingly bad at, but the maths-based test, on the other hand, she scored ninety-nine out of one hundred. Those who scored over ninety-six or above, were asked to attend the college DCU (Dublin City University) for an aptitude test to see if they would be viable to attend a course that was offered to only the elite.

People came from far and wide to partake in the aptitude test. Sarah arrived an hour early, three sharpened pencils and an eraser in her pocket, wondering what an aptitude test entailed. She had never completed one before, and upon hearing the different accents of the others who attended, she felt under pressure, wondering ‘what if I fail?’

Once she sat in her allotted seat, three seats separating her from the next participant, rendering cheating impossible, she felt beads of sweat form on her brow. She knew was only a baby in her parents’ eyes, and to be potentially offered a place in college would affirm their opinion of how bright she actually was.

When she looked around the room, she began to relax, seeing as most of the students there seemed to be around her age. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, fear building up as she didn’t want to let her parents down. She should have been worrying about herself, but she was the type of young girl who liked to impress her parents.

As she was handed the test, its contents sealed with a sticker along the edge, panic took over. She decided to close her eyes and pretend she was on a deserted beach overlooking clear blue water. As she was doing so, the examiner was explaining that the test would last forty-five minutes. It wasn’t until he announced that the clock started counting down that she opened her eyes and broke the seal on the booklet.

Sarah flew through the questions, turning the pages quickly as her brain knew most of the answers by the time, she finished reading the problem. The ones that were challenging, she left until last, trying desperately to answer the easy ones first to calm herself down. With twenty minutes to go, and twenty questions left, she frantically scanned each page to find the ones she had skipped. There was room in the margin to work out the answer before imputing it into the answer box. She used all the skills under her belt and finished the entire booklet with three minutes to go. She reread each of the questions, paying special attention to the hard ones, and was on the second last page when the examiner announced that the time was up!

As she carried herself out of the lecture theatre where the test took place, she found her father reading the paper in the car in the exact same spot as she left him. He looked at her, grinning like a Cheshire cat, proud she was even considered for the exam.

‘How was it love?’ he asked her as she sat in the passenger seat feeling deflated wishing she could have rechecked them all and not just the ones on the first twelve pages.

‘Ok I guess!’ Sarah answered with a gloomy look on her face. She was of the mindset that she wasn’t worthy of passing.

The day the letter soared through the letter box in the white, wooden, glass filled front door saying Sarah had scored in the ninety eighth percentile and was eligible to attend an elite group of students on a Saturday morning for eight weeks for a computer class, her parents began to jump around the place. They ordered pizza that night to celebrate, Sarah convinced it was a clerical error.

The computer class commenced almost immediately, Sarah jumping out of bed to attend with gusto, something her parents were surprised at as she had to be ripped from the bed on a normal day. It was Sarah who got her father up, as he was the one who was driving her the hour it took from their home to the college. He stopped for petrol on the way as they were running ahead of time. When he emerged from the garage, he was holding not one, but two papers in the crook of his arm, one a broadsheet, the other a tabloid, to have enough reading material to last the three-hour duration of the course. When he parked the car, close to the entrance of the college, he asked if she wanted him to go in with her. Sarah was at an age where independence was highly desired, so she refused his offer with thanks.

As Sarah entered the college, there were laminated sheets of paper with arrows indicating where she needed to go. She wasn’t sure what she needed to bring, so her mother had provided a packed lunch, alongside a brand-new notebook and a handful of pens. Sarah didn’t need to utilise any of what her mother packed as she was given an introduction folder upon arrival, and it included everything she needed. She felt privileged when she received it as it had the logo for the collage on every item.

The three hours, although on a computer, something Sarah wasn’t privy to at home, flew by and she picked up the shorthand language that was required like a pro.

As she exited the building, her class over, there her father sat in the exact same place she had left him, having read both papers front to back. She rambled on and on about the content of the course and how she was able to prompt the computer, which would be hers for the duration of the eight weeks into drawing a table. This all went over her father’s head, but he let her ramble on regardless as he was so proud to hear that his baby girl was already going to college, seven years before he had anticipated.

Sarah continued to get up with enthusiasm each and every Saturday the course lasted for, her parents delighted that she was placed in the advanced class after only three weeks. She heard them debate purchasing a computer of their own for her to practice on, but the money just wasn’t available for such an extravagance at the time. It was 1996 after all, a time when computers were as expensive as a years’ worth of health insurance. Sarah didn’t mind though, she came to prove herself in the college and, at the end of the eight weeks, was picked out of everyone as the most improved, getting a badge to say so.

As she received her badge, the lecturer whispered in her ear that he would encourage her to enrol in the weeks course that was going to take place in the summer. He mentioned how proud he was of her, a sentiment which was mirrored by her parents when they saw the badge that she wore with honour.

Sarah looked back over the duration of the course and realised she had grown confident in her abilities with the particular program in which the college used, even though she was the only student out of thirty who didn’t own a computer. She had raced through the levels of difficulty and found pride in the special pin she had received!