Most high school juniors and seniors are familiar with the SAT, the infamous three-hour test that can determine a student’s academic future.

The test is feared by many students, but not Tyrone senior class president Kolten Miller, who scored a near-perfect 780 on the reading and language portion of the test this past spring.

“The English section wasn’t really that hard, but it was kind of stressful with the time limits. The math was a lot harder because it was a lot of material that we don’t cover that well in school, or it was stuff I hadn’t used in a few years,” said Miller.

Miller was just 20 points shy of a perfect score, something that less than 1% of the 2.2 million students who take the test each year accomplish.

The average score in 2021 for the reading and language test was 533.

According to Tyrone English and SAT prep teacher Steve Everhart, Miller’s score is the best that he can recall any Tyrone student earning in his 30+ years of teaching.

“Overall, I thought it was just like any other test, the only real difference is that there is a time limit which adds that stress factor. Afterward, I realized it wasn’t as bad as a lot of people make it out to be,” said Miller.

What makes Miller’s 780 more impressive is that just last year he scored a 600 on his PSAT, which is a good score by any standard, but it is impressive that he managed to improve his score so dramatically.

Miller credits taking Tyrone’s free SAT prep class and focusing on key strategies and time management.

“Packing on 180 points in 12 months boiled down to three things: practice, practice, and practice,” said Everhart. “Kolten was able to take a solid language foundation and make it stellar,” added Everhart, “Preparation is everything. Tyrone High offers two free SAT courses every year that would cost students $400 to $4000 on the open market. Take advantage as early as possible.”

The SAT was originally adapted from an Army IQ test and administered as a college admissions test for the first time in 1926. It wasn’t popular until 1933 when the president of Harvard started using the test to assess scholarship applicants because he believed it was an effective measurement of intellectual potential.

It has since become the standard test for all college applicants and was administered to over 300,000 people across the country by the 1940s.

Miller plans to attend Penn State Main next fall and major in pre-med. He plans to go to med school after his undergrad and hopes to be an anesthesiologist.

Miller’s advice to other students on how to approach the test is simple,

“Don’t stress out, especially if you’re taking the SAT prep classes. They definitely help you get used to the time limits and go over almost all of the material. The main thing is just to stay calm and don’t overthink it,” says Miller.