The townspeople shuttered their windows and boarded their shops. Not a soul could be seen on the cobblestone streets.
Then, news arrived from the capital that the upcoming LSAT had been canceled and the fate of all future LSATs was now uncertain.
"Oh no!" cried Ashley. She slumped in her chair as she thought of all the countless hours she’d dedicated to her LSAT prep along with her previous quest to defeat the LSAT dragon.
Now, it looked as if -- despite her previous successes -- she'd never have the opportunity to actually take the LSAT! Her dream of becoming a successful attorney was slipping away.
“Of course, something had to come along and ruin it all,” she sighed.
Worst of all, what if Ashley became infected with the LSAT Virus? Then she'd never be able to achieve a top LSAT score and gain admission to the best law school in the capital.
Those afflicted lost their critical thinking abilities. Instead, they were reduced to mindlessly accepting any claim they heard, no matter how ridiculous.
Due to the lockdown, Ashley had more free time than ever before to keep studying for the LSAT.
Yet she still couldn't focus. Her worries about the LSAT Virus kept her up at night and sapped her motivation. She anxiously awaited the town crier’s daily updates on the total number infected.
"On top of worrying about catching an infectious disease, I still have to study for the LSAT? Are they nuts?" she thought.
"Given the circumstances, would it kill them to make an exception just this once?” she argued to no one in particular.
Alas, most law school admission policies remained unchanged, and LSAT after LSAT was canceled as the LSAT Virus infected more of the population each day. It soon became a full-blown plague.
Ashley cried, “I can’t take the LSAT online! I don’t have a computer. They haven’t even been invented yet!”
Ashley spent an increasing amount of time hiding under the covers doing nothing at all except waiting for the next news update. She was afraid things would never return to normal. How had everything come crashing down so fast?
As the days dragged on, Ashley’s LSAT progress slowed to the point that she wasn’t even opening her books anymore.
Then, one afternoon, the wizard appeared at her window wearing an N95 mask.
Shocked, Ashley whispered, "What are you doing here? There's a shelter-in-place order. You should be at home. Plus, you're quite old, and they say the LSAT Virus affects the elderly more than anyone else."
"I was worried about you," he explained. "We haven't been able to meet to continue your training. How's your LSAT prep coming along? Have you been following the study plan as we discussed?"
"Yes," she lied. (She'd been thinking about the LSAT - did that count?)
"What's the contrapositive of 'If the LSAT goes forward, the plague must be over?'" he inquired.
"Um, if the LSAT doesn't go forward, the plague must be continuing?" she replied.
"Wrong. That's the negation of the original, not the contrapositive. There are several factors that could prevent the LSAT from going forward -- like as an earthquake, a tsunami, or any number of other things. Have you actually continued your studies, or are you lacking motivation because you don't know when you'll be able to take the LSAT in-person again?"
"Okay, maybe I haven't been studying as much as I should," she admitted. "But how am I supposed to stay motivated there’s so much uncertainty? I also have to worry about stockpiling food, medicine, and toilet paper in case I get infected."
The wizard looked around her room at the cases of toilet paper stacked floor to ceiling. "Are you sure you need all those? I haven't been able to find any for weeks."
Ashley handed him a four-pack of toilet paper through the window, which he gladly took with a gloved hand.
"Thanks," he said. "As for the LSAT, you’ll take it eventually. And when you do, I want you to be ready for it, regardless of the format."
"Why don't they just make a decision on all future test dates already?" Ashley complained. “And if they’re going to do it online now, why don’t they just always make it online?”
"Well, first off, we're probably living sometime in the 1300s, and the Internet doesn't exist. You know that.” He glanced around, then lowered his voice to a whisper and said, “Between you, me, and the toilet paper, my crystal ball showed me that LSAC didn't even adapt the LSAT to a digital format until 2019. So I wouldn't count on it being available online 24/7/365 during our lifetime.”
Ashley rolled her eyes and groaned.
The wizard continued, “Anyway, that's not the point. Whether it's digital or paper, online or in person, none of that matters. There's no downside to being ready too early. Every day you don’t study is a day you delay your law school dreams. Meanwhile, your competition is taking advantage of the lockdown, and you're missing out on an opportunity to master the exam because you’re obsessing over updates that are largely irrelevant to your daily life. The tavern is closed and there's not much else to do besides study anyway.”
The wizard looked past Ashley and his gaze fell upon the enormous stack of toilet paper rolls behind her. Locking eyes with the scholar, he quipped, “Or maybe you’re having too much fun building a fort with all that toilet paper?"
"It was good for the 'gram," she said.
"I'm not even going to pretend to know what that means," he responded.
Ashley cracked a smile. "Don't worry about it."
“My point is, these are skills you don't forget. As long as you want to go to law school, the LSAT is the best way to get there. You have the ability to conquer this exam - I've seen it. You defeated the LSAT dragon, so I know you can do this. If you some basic precautions, you can probably avoid the LSAT Virus.”
“Thanks, Wizard,” she said, but he was already gone. Only a purple puff of smoke remained.
“
“I can defeat the LSAT,” she said to herself. “And I'm not going to let this LSAT Virus stop me either!” She returned to her day-by-day study plan and followed it to the letter.
Each morning, Ashley awoke at the crack of dawn and exercised inside her toilet paper fortress.
She scheduled healthy meals to be delivered to her window by raven and ran laps around her house while wearing a protective mask and gloves.
She was especially careful to maintain six feet of distance from everyone. Ashley returned to her bedroom each afternoon with renewed determination to do the hard work of studying for the LSAT.
When the town crier began delivering the news with ever-increasing frequency, she put in her earplugs and only allowed herself to listen to the most important updates. It turned out that most of them didn't really affect her anyway.
Then, one day, just like that, the LSAT Virus was gone. The plague was over, and things slowly returned to normal.
Ashley hadn't needed to change anything about her LSAT prep. In fact, what was most important is that she’d changed nothing at all and continued her journey as before. Despite all the uncertainty and chaos around her, she’d structured her daily schedule to maximize her focus.
Before long, the news came that the next LSAT had been scheduled. The format didn’t even matter. She was ready.
She began the test with a smile on her face, confident she'd be able to ace the exam no matter what they threw at her.
Deep in the forest, the wizard sat inside his little stone cottage gazing deeply into his crystal ball. “Ah! I see you’re going to do just fine, Ashley. You got this!”
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