For the past several weeks, several Juniors and Seniors have been staying after school for an hour each day to prepare for the new Stanford Achievement Test. The students are coached by high school teacher Chris Collins, who has trained students to take the test over the past twelve years in both Christian and public school settings. This Saturday, Mr. Collins will be taking the test along with the students that he has been training. It will be the first time that he has taken the test since he was a Junior in high school.

      "It will be interesting to see how much the test has changed. There is an entirely new section (writing) and the analogies have been dropped from the Verbal section. That was my strongest area on the old test, but my vocabulary has expanded quite a bit since I was in high school. I missed one math question on both the SAT and PSAT as a student. My goal is to get a perfect 800 on the Math Section, 650+ on Verbal, and 600+ on the new Writing section. I think my students will do well on the Verbal section, about average on Math, and I really don't know what to expect on the Writing section. That is why I'm taking the test again. I want to see first-hand how hard the new test is so that I can better prepare my students to succeed."

      Only two of the students who have been coming to the SAT-prep classes are Seniors, so for the Juniors this is mainly practice. Next year, the practice sessions will begin earlier in the school year - probably in November. There will be two more practice days this week (Wednesday and Thursday, 2:30-3:30) and participation is free for all JCA students.