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Sherman Student Almost Scores Perfect On SAT

Kayla Yokom

SHERMAN — They say nobody’s perfect, yet every now and then, someone does come close.

Sherman Central School Senior Kayla Yokom is one of those people having attained close to a perfect score on her SAT exam. Yokom scored 800 in math and 780 in reading and writing, for a total score of 1580, only 20 points short of a perfect score of 1600.

“I was quite surprised,” Yokom said. “I knew it was going to be better than last year’s score, but not to this degree.”

Sherman Guidance Counselor Lori Svenson said she is quite impressed with Yokom’s accomplishment.

“I’m in my third year here at Sherman, but in my eight years of being a school counselor, I’ve never seen anyone score that high,” she said.

Of course, everyone did expect Yokom to do well. On the PSAT exam, which she took in October of 2019, she scored 1460 out of 1520, Svenson said. This put her in the 99th percentile of everyone who took the test that year.

Because of that, Svenson said, Yokom received recognition by the College Board National Recognition Program for Rural and Small Town Scholars. They gave Yokom her own college advisor to help her with the process of preparing for college entrance.

Yokom also did a lot of preparation for the SATs on her own. She did about 2 1/2 hours of prep work, spread over the course of several weeks, through Khan Academy.

Khan Academy is an online service that offers several different learning programs, including official SAT practice.

While Sherman offers a class called college prep, in conjunction with Khan Academy, Yokom did her preparation independent of the school course.

The COVID pandemic conplicated matters in one way, but assisted in another way, Yokom said.

“I had to reschedule for the test twice because of COVID,” she said. “But it was a bit of a help when it came to studying because so many other things were cancelled.”

Yokom said that, while her parents were surprised she did so well, her classmates weren’t that surprised.

“One of them said ‘if you get a perfect score, I’m just gonna leave class,’ ” she said. “When the scores came out, I looked at them, and said to him, ‘it’s pretty close.'”

Yokom said her classmates have been very supportive of her achievement.

“They’ve gotten used to stuff like this happening,” she said.

Yokom said she plans to apply to Brown University in Rhode Island. She intends to major in biology, with a focus on marine biology.

Wherever she goes and whatever she does in life, Svenson said, she believes Yokom will excel. “I think Kayla is one of the most exceptional students I’ve ever met,” Svenson said. “She really embodies the Sherman spirit. We know her future is bright and all of us here are looking forward to seeing where life will take her.”

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