SAT-isfaction

Benjamin Grove

Monday, May 17, 1999 | 11:37 a.m.

Clark High School junior Nathan Dahl said he wasn't sweating the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

"I just figured, if I stink at it, I'll take it again," the 17-year-old said.

No need.

Dahl was the only student in Clark County this year to attain a perfect 1600 score on the college entrance exam.

"I was thinking that if everything went well, I could probably score between a 1500 and a 1550," Dahl said. "Maybe in the back of my mind I was thinking, 'Wouldn't it be nice to get a 1600?' "

Dahl became just the second Nevada student in three years to earn a perfect score on the SAT. Last year just 673 students nationwide earned a perfect score out of 1.8 million students who took the test. That's less than one-twentieth of 1 percent.

"It's the educational equivalent of being struck by lightning," said Tom Ewing, spokesman for New York-based Educational Testing Service, which administers the test.

Educators say slam-dunking both the math and verbal sections of the test is rare.

"He's equally bright on both sides of his brain," Dahl's guidance counselor, Yvette Zmaila, said. "He's just extremely well-rounded. He's a rare exception on the bell curve."

Clark High Principal Wayne Tanaka said he had known students to score a perfect 800 verbal score or 800 math score, but not both.

"Given my math skills, he must get that part from his mother," Dahl's father, North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Stephen Dahl, said.

To prepare, Dahl reviewed three or four practice tests in the days before the January exam. Then he got a good night's sleep.

"I think I had Grape Nuts for breakfast," Dahl said. "I might have had a banana."

Dahl points out that his score wasn't quite perfect. He missed three questions on the verbal section and one on the math section, but that still registers as a 1600, the maximum points possible, because of the way the test is scored.

Dahl said three years of rigorous high school classes also prepared him for the test. This semester, Dahl is taking advanced placement English literature and composition, advanced placement physics, U.S. history, two periods of pre-calculus, honors Spanish and theater.

At school day's end, Dahl runs track and cross country. He competes in 1-mile, 2-mile and 5-kilometer events. He posted a 17:15 time in the 5K this school year and placed 17th overall at the state cross country meet.

"In both (running and test-taking), you have to concentrate on the areas you need to work on," Dahl said. "You have to know the course."

Dahl admits he almost quit running his freshman year after one week of rigorous workouts.

"It was so awful," Dahl said. "But my mom told me to stick with it for at least a week."

Teacher Sherwin Bennes praised Dahl's work ethic and described him as a perfectionist -- almost to a fault -- but also humble.

"When I brought (the SAT score) up in class, he was actually a little embarrassed about it," Bennes said. "I think that says a lot about what kind of young man he is."

Physics teacher James Schmidt said Dahl never scored lower than an A on a test.

"Without exaggerating too much, he's brilliant," Schmidt said. "He's able to draw conclusions in his head about concepts before they are explained to him. He blows people away."

The scores, Tanaka said, will probably blow some college recruiters away as well. "My guess is that Harvard and Stanford will be calling," he said.

But Dahl is not looking for an Ivy League future.

He plans to study meteorology, an eight-year fascination that hasn't faded, he said, and he will look at universities with top-notch weather programs.

He plans to complete a two-year mission with the Mormon church before settling into classes at the University of Oklahoma or another school in the stormy Midwest.

"That's fine," said his dad, Judge Dahl. "I'm glad he has something in mind. He wants to chase tornados."

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