All the Right Answers : 2 Valley Students Achieve Perfect Scores on College Placement Exam
Being perfect is no big deal. At least that’s what high school students Jennifer Koo, 16, and Dale Shuger, 17, both said after learning that they scored a flawless 1,600 points on the Scholastic Assessment Test, the nation’s premier college placement exam.
“I’m just thrilled . . . but there are a lot of people I know who are just brilliant and so intelligent and responsible and they bombed the test,” Jennifer said Tuesday in an interview at the Math and Science Magnet at Van Nuys High School, where she is a junior.
“I guess that the SAT is necessary, but I don’t think it should be such a big deal.”
“The test is stupid and it doesn’t really measure anything important,” echoed Dale, a part-time film actress and junior at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, in a separate interview.
But of the approximately 3.2 million students who took the test throughout the United States, only about 15 of them, including Dale and Jennifer, aced both the 800-point verbal and 800-point math elements of the exam, said Van Nuys Principal Robert G. Sharf.
“We have a lot of 1500s and high 1500s,” he said. “But of course Jennifer’s score really jumped out at us.”
Neither of the two expected to do so well. They made no special preparations for the test, which they took in April, because they knew they would have a second chance to take it and improve their scores if they did poorly.
“I went to sleep early and told myself I could take it again,” said Jennifer. “It was a little grueling, but it wasn’t so bad.
“The results came on Friday in a standard envelope and I saw it and it was, like, ‘Oh, I got a 1,600,” she added. “It took a while for me to say, ‘Wow! I got a 1,600!’ It’s pretty unbelievable.”
Dale said that although the test was challenging she had “more than enough time at the end of each section to review my work.”
The SAT, which strikes fear in the hearts of the multitudes of college-bound students who take it each year, is made up of six separate math and language tests, administered over three hours. The scores are used by colleges across the nation to determine whether applicants will be admitted, and whether they are eligible for scholarships.
Last year the SAT was revamped to better reflect student abilities by its designer, Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N.J., after criticism that test results were unfairly biased against minorities and women.
Both Dale and Jennifer said they have not yet decided what colleges they want to attend, but Dale acknowledges that her high score may mean she can get into virtually any school she wants.
“I feel a little more relaxed,” Dale said. “It’s one more hurdle that I’ve overcome to get to that little college in the future.”
Dale also earned accolades last November when she won a gold medal as the individual high scorer at the Los Angeles Unified School District Academic Decathlon.
In addition to her heavy academic load, which includes three advanced placement classes, Dale is presently working as an actress in an independent film tentatively titled “Female Perversion,” starring Frances Fisher, Amy Madigan and Tilda Swinton. Taking advantage of her childlike appearance, the 4-foot, 10-inch high school junior plays the part of a 13-year-old girl.
But Dale said moonlighting as an actress doesn’t affect her studies, just her sleep habits.
Jennifer also maintains a busy academic and social life. Currently the opinion editor of the Van Nuys High newspaper, she also plays piano and does volunteer work at the Buddhist temple her family attends.
Since the announcement of her perfect score, a wave of media attention has left Jennifer struggling to keep her head above water while juggling her studies.
“I haven’t been in class all day,” she said after completing five interviews, and just before receiving an invitation to appear on “The Late, Late Show With Tom Snyder.”
But while she frets about completing her assignments, her teachers seem willing to accommodate her newfound celebrity.
“All those who are being interviewed by the national media will be granted an extension,” Jennifer was told by Chris Hale, her advanced placement U.S. history instructor, after asking about the due date for an essay.
Television news crews have been a common sight on the Van Nuys campus anyway since the school’s Science Bowl team won the national title Monday in Washington, D.C.
Dale said she tried not to tell anyone in her class about her perfect score.
“My class is very competitive and there probably would have been death threats,” she joked. “Now when I go back to school, I’ll probably need a bodyguard.”
