The Perfect Score
-Rob Buyea

BATTLE OF THE BOOKS
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    • Before the Ever After
    • Caterpillar Summer
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    • Genesis Begins Again
    • Look Both Ways
    • Maybe He Just Likes You
    • Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus
    • My Year in the Middle
    • New Kid
    • The One and Only Bob
    • Other Words for Home
    • The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
    • A Single Shard
    • Stepsister
    • They Called Us Enemy
    • Thunder Head
    • The Traitor's Game
    • What'sHisFace
    • Where the Heart Is
    • Wildfire
    • Words on Fire
  • 2020
    • Grades 3-5 >
      • Amal Unbound
      • Among the Impostors
      • Blended
      • Endling the Last
      • Front Desk
      • The Girl in the Locked Room
      • Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
      • The Losers Club
      • Not if I Save you First
      • The Perfect Score
      • Ryan Quinn and the Lion's Claw
      • The Time of the Fireflies
    • Grades 3-8 >
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      • Breakout
      • Grenade
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      • The Bridge Home
      • The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
      • Internment
      • The Mechanical Mind of John Coggin
      • Monument 14
      • Never Say Die
      • Resistance
      • To Right the Wrongs
      • Shouting at the Rain
      • Warcross
      • Wind in the Willows
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    • Ivy Nelson
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    • John Wegner
    • Jonah Fegley
    • Juno Tischner
    • Kaden Russell
    • Kaden Schriner
    • KAIDEN KLEIN
    • Kaison Most
    • Kaitlyn Catanese
    • Kaiya
    • Kallie Wright
    • Kami Goedert
    • Kara Brockman
    • Karter Tilson
    • Katie Florell
    • Kenley Haussermann
    • Kinley Christensen
    • Kinley Hansen
    • Kyler Peterson
    • Kyper Vaughn
    • Kyler Schroeder
    • Kylie Koeppen
    • Kyper Vaughn
    • Kyrie Houghtelling
    • Kyson Bose
    • Laura Behrhorst
    • Lauren Quinn
    • Layla Popple
    • Leah DeWald
    • Leanna Ellingson
    • Lillian Helms
    • Logan Strolberg
    • Luke Lush
    • Lydia McGowen
    • Maddox Hartzog
    • Madi Trambly
    • Maggie Rawson
    • Mark Mahalek
    • Marley Hutchens
    • Marley Thorell
    • Mavrik
    • Mick Pfeil
    • Mikayla Kenton
    • Mistica Martin
    • Myley
    • Oliver Deibler
    • Palmer Loberg
    • Payton Adams
    • Peyton Soucie
    • Pierce Hytrek
    • Porter Wohlgemuth
    • Regina Pena
    • Rihanna Botello
    • Ruby Edwards
    • Rylan Lush
    • Santiago Carrasco Aguirre
    • Sofia Alvarez
    • Sutton Strong
    • Trinity Kappes
    • Truman Fennel
    • Whitney Wall
    • Will Nickerson
    • Wyatt Rice
    • Xavier Picotte
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From the beloved author of Because of Mr. Terupt and its sequels comes The Perfect Score, a new middle-grade school story with a very special cast of unforgettable characters who discover that getting the perfect score—both on the test and in life—is perhaps not so perfect after all. 
 
No one likes or wants to take the statewide assessment tests. Not the students in Mrs. Woods’s sixth-grade class. Not even Mrs. Woods. It’s not as if the kids don’t already have things to worry about. . . . 
 
Under pressure to be the top gymnast her mother expects her to be, RANDI starts to wonder what her destiny truly holds. Football-crazy GAVIN has always struggled with reading and feels as dumb as his high school–dropout father. TREVOR acts tough and mean, but as much as he hates school, he hates being home even more. SCOTT’s got a big brain and an even bigger heart, especially when it comes to his grandfather, but his good intentions always backfire in spectacular ways. NATALIE, know-it-all and aspiring lawyer, loves to follow the rules—only this year, she’s about to break them all.
 
The whole school is in a frenzy with test time approaching—kids, teachers, the administration. Everyone is anxious. When one of the kids has a big idea for acing the tests, they’re all in. But things get ugly before they get better, and in the end, the real meaning of the perfect score surprises them all.
​
BL 4.7
10 Points

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Activity 1: ​Consider the five students/narrators of the novel. Who did you like the most? The least? For what reason? In your opinion, which character faced the toughest situation? Explain.
Activity 2: ​In your opinion, what is the most important lesson the Recruits learn from their year with each other, Mrs. Magenta, and Mrs. Woods? Imagine you are one of the Recruits. Explain how you would’ve handled their situation. 
Activity 3: ​​In addition to Natalie, readers also witness Gavin, Randi, Scott, and Trevor choosing to cheat on the CSA tests as a means of helping each other and to make a statement about the school’s emphasis on high-stakes testing. Examine the ethical nature of these characters’ decisions. Create a character report card by building a table with the main characters’ names and the following column headings: respect, responsibility, cooperation, caring, integrity, self-control, honesty, and effort. Add a final column that will serve as a comments section. Under each heading, give the character the letter grade that you believe he or she deserves based on actions and choices made in the book. In the comments section, use two specific pieces of evidence from the novel to explain and support the grade.
  • Home
  • 2022
    • A Wish in the Dark
    • All Thirteen
    • Before the Ever After
    • Caterpillar Summer
    • Dragon Hoops
    • Efren Divided
    • From the Desk of Zoe Washington
    • Gone to the Woods
    • Ground Zero
    • Hunger
    • I will always Write Back
    • Instant Karma
    • My Side of the Mountain
    • Never Caught
    • On the Horizon
    • Prairie Lotus
    • Puppet's Payback
    • Rescue
    • Show me a Sign
    • Song for a Whale
    • Spark
    • Strongheart
    • Three Keys
    • Trapped in Hitlers Web
    • Tristan Strong
    • Verify
    • War Stories
    • We Must not Forget
    • When Stars are Scattered
    • When you Trap a Tiger
    • Wild River
    • Wink
  • 2021
    • The 57 Bus
    • Above
    • All the Lovely Bad Ones
    • Allies
    • Because of the Rabbit
    • City of Ghosts
    • Clean Getaway
    • The Dark is Rising
    • Don't Tell the Nazis
    • A Drop of Hope
    • Echo Mountain
    • Endling the First
    • Finding Langston
    • The Fountains of Silence
    • Genesis Begins Again
    • Look Both Ways
    • Maybe He Just Likes You
    • Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus
    • My Year in the Middle
    • New Kid
    • The One and Only Bob
    • Other Words for Home
    • The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
    • A Single Shard
    • Stepsister
    • They Called Us Enemy
    • Thunder Head
    • The Traitor's Game
    • What'sHisFace
    • Where the Heart Is
    • Wildfire
    • Words on Fire
  • 2020
    • Grades 3-5 >
      • Amal Unbound
      • Among the Impostors
      • Blended
      • Endling the Last
      • Front Desk
      • The Girl in the Locked Room
      • Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
      • The Losers Club
      • Not if I Save you First
      • The Perfect Score
      • Ryan Quinn and the Lion's Claw
      • The Time of the Fireflies
    • Grades 3-8 >
      • Ban this Book
      • Breakout
      • Grenade
      • The Night Diary
      • Patina
      • SLOB
      • Stolen Girl
      • The Unteachables
    • Grades 6-8 >
      • Cameron Waldo
      • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
      • The Bridge Home
      • The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
      • Internment
      • The Mechanical Mind of John Coggin
      • Monument 14
      • Never Say Die
      • Resistance
      • To Right the Wrongs
      • Shouting at the Rain
      • Warcross
      • Wind in the Willows
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • About
  • Contact
  • Rules
  • Books I've Read
    • Abby Helms
    • Abel Hoffman
    • Abigail Lashley
    • Adrian Sand
    • Adelyn Wells
    • Alex Klatt-terabelian
    • Allegra Johnson
    • Alyvia Rabe
    • Anna Hamilton
    • Anna Lind
    • Asher Gerlach
    • Asher Ham
    • Ashlyn Wendell
    • Ashton Brown
    • Augustus Haack
    • Bailey Dallmann
    • Baylee Kipp
    • Bailey Wilfahrt
    • Baylee Kipp
    • Beckett Ehrke
    • Braxton Mitchell
    • Briar Gunderson
    • Brigitte Basurto
    • Brittyn Frasier
    • Brody Dieghenbaugh
    • Brogan Pittz
    • Calin Light
    • Cameron Waldo
    • Camryn Jo Bunger
    • Carson Hamilton
    • Cash Schnuerle
    • Charlotte Nicholson
    • Chloe Henry
    • Cohen Wright
    • Colyns Mowry
    • Connor Edwards
    • Coralee Schurr
    • Corbyn Wright
    • Dakota Deterding
    • Dinah Sandman
    • Elin Patterson
    • Elsie Donley
    • Elsie Strand
    • Emily Lewis
    • Emma George
    • Emmett Nitchie
    • Evelyn Frerichs
    • Ford Mach
    • Gabriel Ayres
    • Gabriella Robinson
    • Gavin Kassing
    • Grayson Bray
    • Hadleigh Wasenius
    • Hailey Cepel
    • Ivy Nelson
    • Haisley McQuiston
    • Haley Downer
    • Hudson Schmidt
    • Ivy Nelson
    • Jackson Deaver
    • Jacob Jezbera
    • Jaelyn Bradley
    • Jaxton Stottler
    • Jayda Kincade
    • Jayden Glassmeyer
    • Jemma Just
    • Jerome Bieghler
    • John Wegner
    • Jonah Fegley
    • Juno Tischner
    • Kaden Russell
    • Kaden Schriner
    • KAIDEN KLEIN
    • Kaison Most
    • Kaitlyn Catanese
    • Kaiya
    • Kallie Wright
    • Kami Goedert
    • Kara Brockman
    • Karter Tilson
    • Katie Florell
    • Kenley Haussermann
    • Kinley Christensen
    • Kinley Hansen
    • Kyler Peterson
    • Kyper Vaughn
    • Kyler Schroeder
    • Kylie Koeppen
    • Kyper Vaughn
    • Kyrie Houghtelling
    • Kyson Bose
    • Laura Behrhorst
    • Lauren Quinn
    • Layla Popple
    • Leah DeWald
    • Leanna Ellingson
    • Lillian Helms
    • Logan Strolberg
    • Luke Lush
    • Lydia McGowen
    • Maddox Hartzog
    • Madi Trambly
    • Maggie Rawson
    • Mark Mahalek
    • Marley Hutchens
    • Marley Thorell
    • Mavrik
    • Mick Pfeil
    • Mikayla Kenton
    • Mistica Martin
    • Myley
    • Oliver Deibler
    • Palmer Loberg
    • Payton Adams
    • Peyton Soucie
    • Pierce Hytrek
    • Porter Wohlgemuth
    • Regina Pena
    • Rihanna Botello
    • Ruby Edwards
    • Rylan Lush
    • Santiago Carrasco Aguirre
    • Sofia Alvarez
    • Sutton Strong
    • Trinity Kappes
    • Truman Fennel
    • Whitney Wall
    • Will Nickerson
    • Wyatt Rice
    • Xavier Picotte