The Second Most Important Exam I Will Ever Take

I am told that the Law School Admissions Test is one of the hardest exams in the country. I am told that it is in fact so intense that some people get up and walk out during the break midway through the test and don't come back. I am told that a good enough score will get me into any law school I want. I dream of getting that acceptance letter from a prestigious law school, and that corner office in a big name law firm, with floor to ceiling glass windows and a view of downtown, in a high rise building somewhere in Los Angeles. I remember going to work with my Mother as a small child, wandering the mahogany covered hallways, peering into libraries stacked with law books and conference rooms with long hand-carved wood tables and leather chairs, basking in the silent hum that permeates out of the offices and into the halls while people prep for court, and feeling a sense of great belonging and purpose, as if some unseen force was welcoming me home to a place I couldn't remember. I think of all the work I've done and all I have yet to accomplish and I tell myself that I cannot fail.
The exam itself is Saturday, but my ordeal started last Saturday. I began to familiarize myself with the different portions of the exam, starting with the Logic Games portion. Some of the questions are easy, but some of them are time consuming, which is a problem when you consider that the test is given in 25 question increments and that you only have 35 minutes to do each increment. There are 4 25 question portions and a timed writing exercise. On top of that, they give you an additional 25 question portion called the "experimental" portion, which doesn't even count towards your score. Of course, they don't tell you which portion is the experimental portion because they don't want you to exhale at all during the 4 hour exam.
I am not TOO worried, but the magnitude of this is not lost on me. My performance on this exam translates directly into which school accepts me. The school that I get accepted to translates directly into the caliber of law firm that will hire me. The caliber of law firm that will hire me translates into the kind of work I will be doing for the remainder of my career. There are people who get jobs and prestigious firms straight out of law school who spend the rest of their careers climbing the ladder within that same firm, helping to build up their own skills and reputation as well as enhancing the firm's. I know it's a lofty goal.
I close my eyes and see the Sun glinting off the glass window in my office. A large L-shaped desk sits facing the window, and I sit at it reviewing a deposition. In my lap sits a little girl, wearing the special dress and buckle shoes that she picked out for "Take Your Kids To Work Day," reading a Dr. Seues book with the same purpose and intensity as her mother, stopping only occasionally to study my face as I read and ask when it is time to go out to lunch.
"Soon my Little. I'm on the last page. Then we can go."