Her poor command of English was another reason that Marin had resisted coming to the U.S. In high school, she was given an IQ test on which she scored a 27 out of 100 and was subsequently labelled as mentally disabled. This low score inspired Marin to work hard to learn the language which she accomplished in part by listening to songs on the radio and repeating the words. By 1976, she was in the top 20 out of a class of 500 and graduated with honors.