Michigan high school senior aces SAT, ACT, and the PSAT.

[riverdeep]

This is nuts. So nuts they don't even keep track of the rarity of this event.

Willa Chen is one in a million. And then some.

The 17-year-old Canton (township) High School senior accomplished what only one person in 5,000 does -- nail a perfect 2,400 score on the SAT. But it didn't end there. She also netted top scores on two other college success predictor tests -- the PSAT and the ACT. Only one person in 1,000 and one in 14,000 does that, respectively.

Suffice to say, it's very, very rare. Eight Michiganians, including Willa, aced the SAT last year in Michigan. Only three, including Willa again, aced the PSAT.

Willa doesn't have a secret how she scored so well. She swears she doesn't work abnormally hard on her studies. She has interests outside of school. And despite enjoying high school, she says she's ready to graduate.

("Perfect times 3: Canton High student aces ACT, SAT, and PSAT, 4/25/09)")
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904250325

[ikojo]

1. One of my nephews was ONE point away from a perfect

score on the ACT. I don't know if he took the PSAT considering he knew he wanted to go to the Univ of Illinois.

[riverdeep]

2. I'd never even heard of the PSAT, I had to look it up.

I don't remember even taking it, this would have been in the mid-eighties.

[noamnety]

5. The PSAT qualifies you for National Merit scholarships.

If you tend to get good test scores, it's smart to take this one even if it seems otherwise unnecessary.

It's been around awhile - I took it in the late 70's.

[dsc]

3. It is a great feat

but there would be some overlap in those populations so it isn't like you would just multiply the odds. I wonder if she is the first to have done this.

[seabeyond]

4. surely this wouldnt be a public school. not possible. good for the gal. n/t

[riverdeep]

6. The article doesn't say.

According to Wiki, there's three private schools in the area, plus a couple of charter schools, so it's possible. Looking at the demographics, it seems to be a fairly well-off community with a larger than typical Asian population:

As of the census<1> of 2000, there were 76,366 people, 27,490 households, and 20,562 families residing in the township. The population density was 2,121.5 per square mile (819.0/km²). There were 28,430 housing units at an average density of 789.8/sq mi (304.9/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 83.87% White, 4.54% African American, 0.29% Native American, 8.73% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.64% from other races, and 1.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.34% of the population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Township,_Michigan

Asians make up something like 4% of the US population.

[fishwax]

10. Canton High School (where she goes) is a public school

[riverdeep]

11. Ah, I see.

I thought they were still referring to the township the school would be located in.

[RiverStone]

7. Great accomplishment --- but thankfully more schools don't care

SAT's , ACT's, PSAT's etc. are becoming less of a measure of success than they used to be; in fact, more and more colleges are NOT requiring it (tho a majority still do).

The kid did fantastic, but I'll be glad when they do away with using standardized testing (which is culturally biased) for judging a person's capacity to achieve.

Same with NCLB - what a disaster that is!

[riverdeep]

9. I can understand the English part, but the math?

How is the math culturally biased?

Anyway, I agree with you overall about any one test being overly weighted, it should really be the totality. For what it's worth, her GPA is a 4.33 as well.

[NightWatcher]

8. whooptie do, I got 2400 on the SAT too

but then again I had to take it twice to get that combined