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NBCPhiladelphia.com / Deanna Durante
Three students from Upper Dublin High School in Montgomery County, Penn., all scored a perfect score of 2400 on their SATs.
Three students from Montgomery County, Pa., accomplished something extremely rare -- they all scored a perfect score of 2400 on their SAT.
And what's even more rare is that all three students are classmates at the same school.
The Upper Dublin High School juniors dedicated years, studying for this one test.
Julie Baldassano, 17, who is the youngest in her family, says her two big brothers left some intimidating shoes to fill, because they both scored 2380 when they took the SAT. She says she couldn't wait to tell them about her perfect score. "They said 'congrats,' yeah, it felt great to be able to tell them."
Benjamin She, 16, says the test is all about skill. "Taking a standardized test like the SAT is just like doing a skill like Poker, it's all about what you need to do to analyze the questions."
According to the College Board, more than one million students take the SAT each year. Last year, only 360 students got a perfect score.
These three students share another thing in common-- they were surprised when they saw the 2400.
"It's really exciting and I never expected it," said William Raynor, 16, who is the oldest in his family.
For other students who stress when it comes time to take the SAT, these perfect test takers say practice and dedication really do make all the difference.
"Don't get discouraged, I wasn't getting anywhere near 2400 when I started practicing, but the more you do the better it'll go and the easier it will get," said Baldassano, who added that besides academics, they all have other interests.
Baldassano likes to knit and volunteers at an animal shelter. She combines her two passions by selling knitted hats to her friends for $10 each, and donates that money to the shelter. So far, she's raised $4,000 for the cause she's passionate about and says she is considering veterinary medicine for her future.
Benjamin She is also considering a future in medicine, and has a passion for classical music. He plays violin in a youth orchestra in Philadelphia. On Sundays, he teaches English at a Chinese school for the elderly.
Raynor volunteers at a library and plays viola in the same youth orchestra as She. He also competes in the science olympiad, math team and science fair and is looking to study medicine as well.
"You can find time to study and do well academically while still having other passions," said Baldassano.
Leave a Comment:
Would this be considered a statistical rarity?
The correct answer is D all of the above.
Every one of you people cheering for these 3 are going to be just as cynical when the news reads "3 Students Found To Have Cheated!" If it sounds unlikely, it probably is.
I know the right one is smart. The other two leave me suspicious on cheating.
The 3 kids are either the three smartest kids in America, or the 3 biggest cheaters in America, but what are the chances that you would get three kids that smart in one class? I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.
It doesn't say whether they may have studied together, study groups help all perform better. That is one possibility. It's also possible that the particular schools happens to have a few exceptional inspiring teachers. There are any number of reasons besides cheating. I'd give them the benefit of the doubt.
As for college performance, they should all do well because it's not the test that counts, it's their dedication to a goal and that DOES translate to college performance, and performance on the job for that matter.
Have any of you mental midgets claiming cheating ever taken the SAT? How do you propose you cheat on the SAT? By the way, what was your score. Never mind, I doubt you will tell the truth, but you get the point.
Go post something inane about the value of guns to America and stop leveling baseless attacks on truly productive young Americans.
"Willaim Raynor, 16, is the oldest member of his family". Maybe the authors need to practice more english composition. Or, these kids are so bright they can time travel. Perhaps in PA you can be older than your parents.
From the things I read, journalism is where you end up because you are too incompetent for anything else. Stories are lame, full of errors or downright lies, grammar is lousy, critical thinking is out the window, etc.
Smart, prepared kids. Good for them!
I really can't speak for the validity of the test as a measure of suitability for college. 50+ years ago, I scored 541 verbal and 682 math. That and my gpa got me honors at entrance at UCLA. Flunked out 1-1/2 years later because I really wasn't interested in a college education then. 3 more years of knocking around and barely surviving economically, I reentered college and excelled. In my case it was a lot of different factors. We are all different and adapt in our own ways and in our own time. Some never do, and that is OK too. Nothing wrong with learning a trade or craft or a specific skill set. The key is to find something you enjoy and can take pride in doing well. As for these guys cheating...I don't think so. My hat's off to them for whatever it is worth.
It's just unfortunate we had to read this in the wake of the Harvard cheating problem. That might have put some of us off hearing about perfect scores. I'm not going to be skeptical though and just congratulate these smart young people. Do good with your brains, kids, make this a better world.
now take the test that was given in 1970 and se how well you do.
good for these kids... after all their only competeing against their peers.
---And all 3 have an IQ of at least 150, I am 100% certain--that is the reason, no one with and average IQ of 100 will ever get 2400 unless they have a hearing aid with test results being piped in, I am so surprised here, they never mention that.
Somehow when talking about college, most in USA think it is all about the college to make people smart, but it has very little to do with that, if you are not with a high IQ, do not waste your money, become an apprentice or a laborer, as we have already the system set up, with about 75 % without real "college finished" college degree.
That is why in northern EU you do not(can not) go to college without a high IQ, as a matter of fact the parents if they are rich sometimes have to send their kids here to go to college, and out of most of those foreigners only 27 % actually finish here, since they simply do not have it in the head.--Rest assured I do know---
3 classmates got perfect scores?????? seperate them and test them again with different tests for each.....Odds are the results may differ greatly.............
Why do you find it odd that one school in PA may have 3 very smart kids who studied for a test and got a perfect score? Granted, this is a very, very difficult test. Maybe they are just really that smart.
Besides, as I stated earlier on this board, the ability to cheat on the SATs are really, really small. Monitors everywhere, different test versions, cameras, no purses, electronic devises, etc.
We had a kid who missed one question on the SATs back in 1980 something. He was able to argue his point and got a perfect (1600 at that time) score.
I say good for them and refuse to think they cheated.
Well La Di Frickin Da... Who F**king Cares.
Back in the old days when 1600 was perfect, I got a 1580. It was announced to the school and all I got was picked on by the jocks.
I did get a really cool recrutement trip to Caltec and lunch with a Noble Peace prize winner Richard Feynman who taught there. My 3.2 GPA and a notebook full of trips the the Vice-Principles office ultimately did not cut it. I was a military brat and had "issues" back then.
I never studied and to be honest with you I found the SAT easy.
I would have killed to study with Feynman! Many people who pass for scientists nowadays are a joke.
"...I got a 1580..." -- But you still didn't get a perfect score. A lot of people on this board talked about how high their own scores were, but a close to perfect score is not a perfect score. "According to the College Board, more than one million students take the SAT each year. Last year, only 360 students got a perfect score." So what is the chance that, out of 3 or 4 hundred, 3 perfect scores come from the same school? The odds are astronomical against such an event.
I definitely smell something fishy here. Nowadays, with all sorts of hi-tech gadgets, there are many, many different ways to cheat. I'm sure the authorities are looking into this "miracle" at this very moment.
Steroids...
snort!!!
Goes to show the public education system isn't the real problem. Just the lack of giva F%$# and respect most students have today...
I'd beg to differ. Study after study shows the same students that are flunking out of public schools excel when placed in charter schools. CBS did a report on a charter school in the middle of Harlem, despite drug addicted parents, prostitute mothers, etc., they graduate 95% and 89% go on to graduate college.
They are payed better and have smaller class sizes. There's your difference.
The writing portion of the SAT is a joke. I know people who score the test who are no where near as bright as the students who write the essays. You are rewarded for sticking to a rubric, and punished if you veer from the rubric. The English and math portion are more objective - and many of the students from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring Maryland score perfectly on those two portions every year. Yes - a feat worth celebrating, but not quite as unusual as the article makes it out to be.
I just want to hug these little nerds. God bless them.
WOW, I didn't know the score went that high! I'm dumber than I thought! lol
"Benjamin She, 16, says the test is all about skill. "Taking a standardized test like the SAT is just like doing a skill like Poker, it's all about what you need to do to analyze the questions."
My guess is this person is not very good at poker you can't bluff a SAT test but you can bluff a person who has a better hand into folding it etc.
Poker IS a skill, it's not all bluffs. That's why many can make a living at it. I had a friend that made a living in Vegas gambling, he never made enough to draw attention to himself so he was able to fly under the radar.
I like the way all the jealous posters who barely made it through school and now work in a factory sweeping the floors and turning knobs, say how these three will not make it in the world.
NBC News, please let us know when Julie turns 18!
I know the school these students attend, Upper Dublin High School in PA. My son went there and in that district students are pushed from kindergarten on. I was always shocked by how much work he had to do even in 1st grade. I hope these students do well once in college though. College demands are often quite a shock for kids who excel in highschool. Suddenly they will be in classes with kids just as smart as they are and even smarter. It can be so stressful they struggle that first year. That's assuming they don't flunk out.
Sorry, I have to disagree with your post. I am currently attending college and I am in my 50's. Never took the SAT myself, but I can tell you I have never seen so many young people as uneducated as college students today. Many of them can't even put a proper sentence together or know the use of capital letters and punctuation. I knew kids that did better in elementary school than college students do now.
You are so right! The HS grads today are no where near where we were decades ago. I also took some college courses and almost all the older students were getting A's while most of the HS grads were struggling. My average was 98 out of 100 and that was not out of the ordinary for the older students. 60's and 70's were the norm for perhaps 90% of HS grads by comparison.
There was a handful of HS grads that did do well but my guess is it was despite HS, not because of it.
I understand what both of you are saying. I too am taking college classes toward a masters degree and I'm pushing 60 and getting great grades. The classes I take are on line and seem to be much easier than I had in traditional collegeg during the 70's. My point though is students in traditional ivy league schools or other competitive colleges and universities are at the top of their class in high school, but when they enter college they're only average. This reality shock happened to my brother in Princeton and my cousin in Johns Hopkins. The stress was orwhelming for both. I can guarantee spelling, grammar and content are very important in the tougher schools, and most students are top performers.
I went to night school while working. One of my teachers copied my tests and used them as the answer key (I still think I deserved a discount). It was a second year accounting class. The younger students could not even grasp the concept of a bank rec. - meaning they could not even tell you what their checking acct. balance was. It was sad. A college degree really does not mean that much. I learned more hands on at my job than I ever did in college. Might get slammed for this, but really, why spend all that money for the degree? Except for the fact that there are still those out there that believe you should be paid more just because you have the degree.
I agree with you, dingboter. Most people learn more with hands-on training than they do in college. Unfortunately, there are not many companies willing to train anymore. My son has a college degree in Automotive Technologies and it got him nowhere, but a low paying job at a dealership. Now he is back in college getting his degree in Engineering. It really depends on the degree whether it is worth the paper it is written on or not.
Kamaaina = subprime example of being "educated beyond one's intelligence".
Here's how mothers who believe as Kamaaina does prepare their kids to excel on SAT tests. Google: tased in mall.
Not to be a buzz kill but the chances that 3 students at the same school getting a perfect score just doesn't add up. We saw how elaborate cheating has become with the arrests on the SAT scandal on long island.
Much to be said about standardized tests, socio-economics, tutoring, etc, etc bottom line the kids got the perfect scores and now the studying and practicing will pay off AND they can forever have bragging rights with the siblings,peers.