Dubai: A 16-year-old Indian student in Dubai has achieved a rare perfect score of 1600 in the SAT standardised test widely used for university admission in the US.
Ahaan Shetty, a Grade 11 student at GEMS Modern Academy in Dubai, earned the highest possible score of 1600 (800 in maths; 800 in reading/writing) in SAT in December 2021. He got all his 154 questions correct and received his results a little over a week ago.
Ahaan, who is from Mumbai city in India, had previously obtained a near-perfect score of 1520. “I felt I could do better so I practiced some more and took the SAT again. I thought I did better this time but I was pleasantly surprised to get a perfect score,” said Ahaan, who wants to study physics, his favourite subject, at a leading university in the US after graduating high school next year.
Practice makes perfect
Ahaan said there is no secret or short-cut in doing well in SAT – or any other exam. “You should do a lot of practice tests from previous SAT papers, understand the pattern of the paper.”
Ahaan went through 20 full-length previous SAT practice tests before taking the actual test.
‘You have to relax’
Ahaan did not study the day before his SAT. “It’s all about how well you feel on the day of your exam. So you have to be relaxed; sleep early so you can be fresh the next day, the day of your exam,” he said.
Ahaan’s interests include playing the piano, sprinting in track-and-field, and robotics.
Commenting on Ahaan’s performance, Hale Education Group, who mentored Ahaan for SAT, said even his previous 1520 score was “extremely good”, noting that his 1600 perfect score is very rare, seen in less than one per cent of millions of test takers worldwide.
How to ace your SAT
-Master math problems and practice solving math problems quickly
-Learn grammar rules such as punctuation usage and correct sentence structure
-Having short review sessions daily is more effective than cramming for your exam to reduce your anxiety
-Take full-length practice tests to be familiar with the format and the types of questions. It also helps in identifying your strengths and weaknesses
-Practice answering questions within the specified time limit for each section
-Practice improving your reading speed. Read topics about various fields such as world literature, science, and history
Source: @shjspea/Sharjah Private Education Authority
