ABSTRACT
Students at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology produce the highest SAT and ACT scores in the nation. The good news is that creative writing and standardized testing are not mutually exclusive. Standardized tests require a more formal argument.” Gifted students can be particularly vulnerable to this mythology. They are naturally thoughtful and creative, but many of them are also high achievers, with their sights set on Ivy League schools that require tests they feel they must succeed on in order to gain admittance. College writing instructors, meanwhile, “spend the first half of their semester unteaching the skills and traits students acquired during high school, encouraging initiative, autonomy, and invention”.
