I definitly got something tho. I tried as you said 
- (read (strcat "(" importedgradelist ")"))
and it returned nothing (!) but reacted otherwise when I used the same function with a string I created. 
 
Definitly am onto something here... OMGGGGGG  I just found the 2 problems.1 - in my grades.txt  I had a parentheses imbalance, 1 more opening than what I had closing. My baaaad, sooorry! Parentheses. If you don't like them, don't lisp! ok. still c:test didn't work.. 
 
2- (setq templst (readit "c:\\grades.txt")) seemed weird. Looking for it on my c: drive maybe? It is not, and the findfile does the job of finding it..  I tried (setq templst (readit "grades.txt")) and BAM! EVERYTHING worked!
 
-My car doesn't start, I've checked everything, battery, spark plugs, wires, air filter...
-It has gas?
-...
 
Now I only have to use lisp to put back the dots in my grades...piece of cake, maybe =D
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you (inhaaaaaale) thank you thank you