A practicum addressed the significant difference between the reading comprehension levels of gifted students and their ability to demonstrate achieved levels on exams designed to measure these levels. Nineteen fifth-grade students participated in daily timed activities targeting reading comprehension, reading rate, attitudes towards test taking, and cognitive awareness of innate test taking strategies. Results indicated that the program was successful in improving the students' performance in the targeted areas. It is held that this plan could be used as part of a daily maintenance program with gifted and mainstream students. (Fourteen references and 5 appendixes--the Dade County Reading Comprehension Placement Test, Reading Drills Activities, a Strategy Use Questionnaire, Graphs for Plotting Reading Results, and a Time Frame--are attached.) (PRA)