A California 17-year-old who completed law school passed the state bar exam last week and will join the Tulare County district attorney’s office, the Washington Post reports, making him the youngest person in the state’s history to pass the bar exam and work as a prosecutor.  Peter Park started law school at the age of 13, as his chronological peers were entering eighth grade.

You gotta give it to Peter:  he was literally taking junior high school courses during the day while studying for CLEP exams, subject-specific tests that when passed, allow people to apply to law school even if they don’t have a college exam.  As Peter studied for his eighth-grade math tests, he was also studying micro- and macroeconomics, as well as composition, cramming for a week before taking the CLEP exam.  He completed all required exams when he was 13, then entered an online four-year juris doctor program at Northwestern California University School of Law.  Finally, he did something that not even the chair of the House Judiciary Committee has done:  he passed a state bar exam.

“At first it was very intimidating — I had zero knowledge about the law,” Park said in an interview with the Post. “But now, I pretty much have a 10-year head start. That’s like living ten years extra. I value that over the traditional high school experience,” adding, “The law is like the fabric of society, it reaches into everyone’s lives.”