THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9504020006
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Jay Gutnick wasn't nervous.
``Not a bit,'' he said, tapping his right foot as he stood at the kitchen counter wolfing down a slab of frosted coffee cafe. ``I wasn't nervous last time, either.''
But it was evident this was not a typical Saturday morning in the Gutnick household. It was SAT day. You know . . . the dreaded Scholastic Aptitude Test.
First, there was the debate over attire. Gutnick originally wanted to wear sweat pants and a sweatshirt.
``I knew I'd be comfortable in them,'' he said.
Then, he worried that in sweat clothes he might literally start sweating in an overheated room. So, he figured he'd wear shorts.
But then he feared he'd be too cold.
Finally the 17-year-old First Colonial High School junior compromised and decided on khaki shorts and an olive green sweatshirt.
A good look for the SATs.
Saturday morning, Gutnick and more than 9,000 other Virginia high school students bolted down their breakfasts, calmed their jittery nerves and headed for the test that will help determine the course of their lives.
In Gutnick's case, with a year left of high school, there's always next time. But the honor student with a 3.6 grade point average desperately wants to go to the University of Virginia. His school counselor has cautioned him that Mr. Jefferson's University likes to see about a 3.8 grade-point average and SAT scores over 1250. To have a shot at Charlottesville, he must boost his January SAT score of 1220.
``I have a lot of extracurricular activities, too,'' said the district forensics champ, hopefully. ``I'm hoping that everything together will help get me in.''
By 7:30 Saturday morning, Gutnick was as ready as a guy can be to take the 3 1/2-hour test.
He left the house at precisely 7:50 armed with two razor-sharp No. 2 pencils, a Texas Instruments calculator able to perform mathematical functions most adults have never heard of and his driver's license (testers frequently ask for picture ID to prevent fraud).
But the real preparation for the test came a year ago when he took a PSAT prep course entailing 75 hours of preparation work at First Colonial. Since that time he's been using an SAT computer program at home to get ready.
``We prep them big time,'' boasted Juanita Felton, resource teacher for First Colonial's gifted students and the teacher of the PSAT course. ``The SATs are really important. A student with a 4.0 average and poor SAT scores is going to have trouble getting into almost any good college.''
Felton says most students, like Gutnick, will take the SATs three or more times - a practice she encourages.
``We even have some 9th and 10th graders taking the test this time,'' she said. ``Some students simply don't test well. When they take the test over and over again they get more comfortable with it. Their scores go up.''
Despite much criticism about over-reliance on standardized testing, the SAT remains one of the top three factors that college admission departments use to select incoming freshmen.
``I don't think it shows anything except how well you perform on standardized tests,'' said Gutnick, shrugging his shoulders. ``But you've got to do it.''
Gutnick says that as nerve-wracking as SAT day is, the day that scores arrive is worse.
``It makes me really uncomfortable at school,'' he said. ``It's kind of a snobby thing, but some of the kids who did really well go around asking every one else how they did. Some of us just don't want to tell everybody, even if we did OK. It's weird. I don't like it.''
Legends abound about students with perfect SAT scores. But there are darn few of those geniuses around: last year, only 25 students nationwide racked up a perfect combined score of 1,600, according to Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J.
Perfect math scores were far more common: 2,400 students managed that. The verbal reasoning portion of the test is more difficult to ace: only 225 scored 800 on it.
Four hours after he left home in the family's brown Mercury Sable, Gutnick turned into the driveway looking completely relaxed - or was that wiped out?
``I'm drained, completely drained,'' he said, smiling weakly.
Rubbing his eyes, Gutnick said the math portion of the test seemed easier this time than last. The verbal seemed a bit harder.
``I'm just going to forget about the SATs for the next six weeks,'' he declared.
The next thing on Gutnick's agenda: the ``Live'' concert held at the Old Dominion University field house Saturday night.
``It's going to be great, all my friends are going,'' he said. ``We're going to stay out late to make up for going to bed early last night.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Jay Gutnick
Graphic
THE BELL CURVE
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB