Personal Narrative: Getting Into The Bergen County Academies

Ups and Downs Being a Korean-American, getting into the Bergen County Academies was the norm, the expectation for me. Since I was an extremely diligent, but cocky, student, being accepted seemed like a simple task. Little did I know that there were thousands smarter than me, and that those thousands would soon become my competition. My family isn't the stereotypical Asian family. My parents were never strict nor did they ever pressure me to aim for Harvard, everything just came to me with my own passion and motivation. Some students started preparing for the Bergen County Academies ever since grade school and with stern mindsets for the perfect grades, they excelled in class. For me, doing well in school just seemed like the right thing …show more content…
Back in September, I didn't know that these next eight months would change me as a person, physically and mentally. BCA Entrance Exam 101: the test consists of a math section and a writing section. The math, rumored to be extremely more heavily weighted than the writing, contains forty multiple choice questions and varying from zero to two open-ended questions. Thus a huge majority of MEK cram school's prep classes were devoted to math. Unfortunately, math was definitely not my strong point. In session one of MEK's BCA prep program, students came once a week to take a practice math test, just like the real one. As Mr. Ahn walked into the room with heavy steps, shuffling through the warm pile of papers, holding our mock test scores, the students shook restlessly. Those three minutes felt longer every week and are well remembered as the most nerve-racking moments of my life. Mr. Ahn navigated through the rows of desks returning, not just our scores, but also either a look of disgust or a neutral expression, since he didn't want to give us false hope. Let's just say that I was not that familiar with Mr. Ahn's poker face. Slowly, I