Strings, Rings, and Other Things

I've just added a link to patrissimo's response to my post, where he made this point (and then some). But as I've argued there, I think that the environmental factors are especially significant for 7th graders. Without my public schools' great gifted program, I would not have seen any algebra before I took the test, and without my parents' encouragement I doubt that I would have been as widely read before I sat down to answer its vocabulary questions. My high intelligence would have been nearly useless on the SAT if I hadn't been regularly exposed to knowledge well above my grade level. That's a much stronger environmental influence than would be typical among high school students.