At Laguna Hills High, Perfect SATs Passed On

Maybe this is a story about luck. Or hard work and determination. Maybe it’s about confidence, or the power of suggestion.

Or maybe there’s something a little more extraordinary going on at Laguna Hills High School, where for three years running, a string of students have made a 1600 score on the SAT their own personal gift to each other. The good luck has been handed down from one student to the next through a note in the yearbook.

Shirley Lai was the latest to achieve what few high school students even imagine. She completed a flawless Scholastic Aptitude Test in October 1998. And now Shirley, headed for Harvard in the fall, has chosen her successor: Laguna Hills High School junior Justin Sun.

The perfect score is given through a “will,” the part of the yearbook where graduating students “bequeath” fanciful ideas and jokes to the younger students who remain behind.

The Laguna Hills High yearbook is not out yet. But when it is released, a 1600 on the SAT for Justin will be included in Shirley Lai’s senior will.

“I’m OK with it, I guess,” said Justin, who has already scored a whopping 1530 on the SAT but is planning to take it again in the fall. “She told me there was a little legacy behind the whole thing. I guess I felt kind of lucky that she chose me to see if I could carry on the legacy.”

It started with Andrew Ting, who has just finished his junior year at Harvard.

Andrew scored 1600 in 1995. In the waning days of high school, he wrote in then-sophomore Nelson Lai’s yearbook that Nelson would be next.

“I think he meant it in a good luck sense,” recalls Nelson of the encouraging yearbook note.

Nelson took it to heart. He had taken the exam twice, scoring a 1520 and then a 1500. The third time was a charm. He perfected his score, and then passed the glory on to his younger sister Shirley through the yearbook’s senior will.

Shirley also took the exam three times. After she hit 1550 on her second try, her parents discouraged her from taking it again. But she went ahead and hit the mark.

“I just wanted it for myself,” Shirley said of the perfect score.

Her older brother said he was astounded when she called to tell him of her victory.

“I was completely boggled,” he said. “I’m so proud of her. It takes such coincidence to get two of them in one family, but apparently [the legacy] is powerful.”

Shirley Lai said she is reticent to put too much pressure on Justin, but she is a believer in the SAT dynasty’s power.

“I’m not a person who really believes in that astrology stuff, but it’s a little too strange” to dismiss, she said.

Shirley says she gave serious thought about who should receive her legacy. She chose Sun, she said, because he’s “really smart.”

“It’s just kind of an extra boost of luck,” Shirley said. “If he doesn’t stress out too much, he’ll get the 1600.”