Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 30, 1994                   TAG: 9405020163
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MERE EXCELLENT SCORE DIDN'T SAT-ISFY STUDENT

The first time Sobotta took the Scholastic Aptitude Test, she scored 1310 - 720 on the verbal section and 590 on the math section.

That was good enough to get her admitted to almost any college or university in the country. Most students would have been happy with that score.

But Sobotta decided to take the test again because, she said, she had "a bad day" the first time.

On the second try, she scored a perfect 800 on the verbal section and 730 on the math - a combined score of 1530.

The average SAT score is 890 - 420 on verbal and 470 on math.

Nationwide, about 1.8 million high school students take the SAT each year. Fewer than 150 make a perfect 800 on the verbal section. Last year, only 84 students did so. About 1,000 students score 800 on the math section. Over the past decade, between eight and 17 students a year have made a combined score of 1600.

Sobotta, an almost-straight-A student, said she did a lot of reading, especially literary classics and news magazines. But she did not take an SAT coaching course.

Sobotta attends the Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology, spending part of her school day there and the rest at Cave Spring, where she will be co-valedictorian of her class.

She is one of the two National Merit Scholarship winners in the Roanoke Valley announced this week. The other was Erica Campbell, a senior at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke. Each will receive a $2,000 scholarship.

Several other seniors in the Roanoke Valley have been named National Merit finalists and may receive scholarships next month when the names of the college-sponsored winners are announced.

They are Christine Boutilier and Jeremy Morris of Cave Spring; Jesse Chappel and Margaret Meyer of Patrick Henry; and Brent Sower of Salem High School.

Sobotta said she probably will go to Harvard University, where her father graduated. She will study history, literature or foreign languages.

She studies an average of about an hour nightly, but she has stayed up all night preparing for important exams.

Sobotta does more than just study. She is editor of Cave Spring's literary magazine and a member of the girls' varsity soccer team.

Campbell, the other Merit Scholarship winner, scored 1450 on her SAT - 740 on the math section and 710 on the verbal section.

She attends both the Governor's School for Science and Technology and the City School for top high school students.

Campbell is considering going to Duke University or the University of Virginia. She said she is leaning toward UVa because she likes its Echols Scholars program. Echols Scholars have more leeway in the courses they can take than other students.