Helen began preparing for her entrance to Radcliffe College when she was sixteen. She attended the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in order to prepare for her Radcliffe examinations. She worked extremely hard and took many courses to prepare her for the challenges of Radcliffe College.
Helen had to take sixteen hours worth of "preliminary exams for Radcliffe." Mr. Gilman, the principal of the Cambridge School, "sat beside [Helen] and read the paper through first, then sentence by sentence, while [she] repeated the words aloud, to make sure that [she] understood him perfectly." All of this communication was done using the manual alphabet. Helen was anxious, as her exams were challenging. She wrote her answers using a special typewriter. After typing, Mr. Gilman read Helen's answers and used the manual alphabet to communicate what they were. She then made changes if she felt that she needed to. It was a long and tedious process, but Helen was determined to do well. She passed all of her examinations.
The next year, Helen became overwhelmed by her course load. Mr. Gilman felt that she should take fewer courses, even though Helen wanted to finish in two years rather than three. Ms. Sullivan agreed with Helen's plan, as did her mother. These differing ideas led Helen to be withdrawn from the school. She continued her studies with the help of a tutor.
When Helen took her final entrance exams for Radcliffe, she had to take them using Braille. This was a challenge, especially in mathematics. There were different types of Braille, which caused extra challenges. Helen had trouble reading some of the mathematical signs in Braille during her exams. Despite these challenges, Helen passed and stated that she had "the consolation of knowing that [she] overcame them all."
Helen had to work through a tedious process to complete her exams. She was determined to do her best and to pass. It was this determination that helped her through, and eventually allowed her to go to Radcliffe.
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