A practicum addressed the high percentage of high-level high school students not making minimum Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) verbal scores required by area colleges for placement in regular college course work. Two advanced sophomore English classes received 12 weeks of instruction with five components, including the use of: (1) the College Board's booklet, "Taking the SAT"; (2) a commercially prepared SAT preparation book; (3) teacher-made worksheets to strengthen vocabulary, reasoning, and reading comprehension skills; (4) a computer program used in groups of three or four students; and (5) a game format for motivation. Students were pre- and posttested with SATs and with teacher-made tests on reading comprehension. Students achieved SAT average verbal gains of 16.8 points. Those scoring under 400 on the pretest gained an average of 45.4 points. Students also showed small increases in ability to answer reading comprehension questions. Findings suggest that modifications to the English curriculum can produce modest gains in SAT verbal scores, particularly in low scores. (Twenty-five references, a 30-item bibliography, and appendixes containing the midcourse reading comprehension test and the reading comprehension posttest are attached.) (SR)