Eighth-grader awarded for top SAT score

At 14 years old, Gabriel Adams has taken the SAT twice, earning a top score through the Montana Association for Gifted and Talented Education’s SAT Challenge.

The SAT is a standardized college admissions exam typically taken by college-bound high school juniors and seniors. Adams took the exam as a Somers Middle School eighth-grader.

SAT Challenge Administrator Joette Speake said the SAT is a “radically off-level test” for middle and junior high school students.

Sections of the exam include reading, writing and math. Test takers may earn a composite score of 1600. His total score of 1220, was one of three top scores among 65 Montana students participating in the SAT Challenge, earning him a $350 award.

The average total score of challenge participants was 1037 according to Speake. Adams’ score also surpasses national averages.

The national average SAT total score in 2016 was 1020 — and for college-bound SAT test takers 1083, according to a blog entry detailing the average SAT score on PrepScholar.

Adams also took the exam as a seventh-grader.

He said he decided to take the test to see where he stood academically and how he compared to high school students.

The SAT Challenge has been offered to Montana middle school students for more than 25 years, according to Speake.

“We wanted to do something for kids who were above average,” Speake said about implementing the program.

From her experience, Speake said an academically gifted child usually “doesn’t fit the mold,” of average students and has to be advanced, challenged, even motivated. SAT scores may provide proof to accelerate a child’s learning. It may also serve as a method to track learning.

Adams said it was also an opportunity to win money to “help me better pursue my passions.”

Adams plans to use the money to buy a computer to take online courses, possibly through the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. While he is interested in science and coding, and passionate about music, he noted that, “I like so many things.”

“Academically, I’m interested in science, particularly genetic and quantum physics. This year I did an independent study on particle physics,” Adams said.

With varied interests, Adams exercises his mind through independent reading and research.

“I read a lot by myself. If I’m interested in something I research it. I find passions and pursuing them really important. At the end of the day what’s important is pursuing what interests you,” Adams said.

In the 2017-18 school year, Adams will attend Flathead High School as a freshman. He said he is looking forward to playing basketball, taking advanced classes, choosing electives, taking a foreign language and learning more about the International Baccalaureate program. And of course, Adams will take the SAT again.

Adams is the son of Scott and Marcie.

For more information visit www.mtagate.org.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.