Dubai: Three students of Modern High School in Dubai, have proven to be among the world’s brightest middle school kids.
The students — Natlalia Mehta in grade eight and twins Shreesha and Srishti Ghosh of grade nine — have made it to an exclusive society of genius kids owing to their SAT and Cognitive Ability Test (CAT) scores, respectively.
Mehta, 13, secured a score of 780 in critical reading section of the Standardised Aptitude Test (SAT) that she appeared for at the age of 12 in 2015, placing her in the 99.96 percentile of twelve-year-olds in verbal reasoning ability worldwide. This helped her qualify as one of the only students from the GCC to be chosen along with 507 other students worldwide for membership to a society for the Study of Exceptional Talent (SET) at the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Talented Youth (CTY), a merit-based academic society dedicated to identifying and nurturing such children through their academic careers.
Speaking to Gulf News, a very thrilled young Mehta, who plans to go for a grand felicitation ceremony at Baltimore in the winter of 2016, said: “I feel extremely elated to be able to achieve this honour, especially when I did not expect it. Ever since I was a two-year-old I loved reading and was naturally passionate about language and literature. I have a natural flair for it and also love being analytical. I guess these two things played a part in this performance.” Mehta, who with an Intelligence Quotient(IQ) of 140 is qualified for admission to MENSA, the society for people with high IQ. She will now be mentored by Dr Michelle Muratori of Johns Hopkins University, an expert in the field of gifted children. Elaine Tuttle Hansen, the Executive Director of CTY expressed her pleasure in identifying a new set of gifted children. “These are the builders and leaders of tomorrow, and as educators and citizens we need to do all we can to encourage their potential to think, create, collaborate and persist,” she wrote to Mehta in a letter sent to her from the Society.
The Ghosh twins registered a high CAT score of 125 and 127 respectively in the beginning of 2015 when they were barely 11 years old. CAT is a form of psychometric assessment designed to measure general intelligence to support schools in understanding pupils’ developed abilities and likely academic potential. Results from CAT can help in intervention, monitoring progress and setting targets for future attainment. Aimed at pupils between 6 to 17 plus years, the test is available in both paper and digital formats and can be administered individually or in a group setting. The twins gave the test online. A mean CAT Standard Age Score (SAS) comes from comparing a pupil’s raw score with the national standardisation sample. This shows how each pupil is performing compared to the national average for their age. The national average SAS is 100. The twins enrolled into the Summer Institute for the Gifted (SIG).
All SIG programmes require evidence of high academic ability and/or achievement and need to have scored at least a 95th percentile or above in any one of the tests such as CAT, SAT, pSAT or ACT and they need to be identified as gifted by their school with evidence of progress reports and class performance, among other prerequisites.
The Ghosh twins passed with flying colours and were invited to attend the Yale summer school for the gifted in July 2015 where they were able to go beyond the textbook curriculum and study varied courses such as engineering in action, time travel theories about worm holes and creative solutions to complex technology problems.
Shrishti told Gulf News she found the programme at Yale mind-blowing. “The course took me beyond my textbook giving me exposure to the real world. It opened new perspectives for me and broadened my outlook. Special in my heart, this experience will always be a milestone in my journey through my school life.” Her twin Sreesha felt the course initiated an exciting change of pace for her. It took me from long, dull paragraphs in textbooks to applying our chosen subjects in the world beyond. The courses were brilliant, unique and interactive, complete with activities to instil the concepts in us. We were able to delve into our chosen courses and debate on various matters as well. I also had the chance to meet a large number of international students with interests and ambitions akin to mine.”
