For 16-year-old Nischal Nadhamuni, topping the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was a matter of utter disbelief. So much that he refreshed the results screen on his computer to be sure that he topped with 2400 out of 2400.
The class 11 student from Mallya Aditi International School is one of the very few in the world to have cleared the test in this manner.
SAT is a standard test to seek admissions into colleges in the United States of America.
“I put in three months of efforts for preparing for the SAT. I relied mostly on internet resources as I personally do not believe in attending coaching centres. I also took the help of blogposts from former SAT candidates,” Nischal said.
Nischal grew up in Silicon Valley till he was six years old. Interestingly, for someone who has achieved such a rare feat of topping the SAT with cent per cent marks, Nischal said it was not everything. “Unfortunately, SAT is not everything. I have a list of things I need to do. For now, I need to focus on school as I have to be consistent in my performance.”
In the course of his preparation for the SAT, Nischal confessed that he could not do his best at school.
“My priority was SAT then. But thanks to the immense support I received from school, I managed to balance between the test and classes,” he said.
“The reason I was able to achieve this feat are my parents. They dug out resources from forgotten corners of the internet, engage me in vocabulary exercises,” Nischal stated.
‘Targetting Stanford, MIT’
After schooling, Nischal wants to pursue a degree in computer science in Stanford or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “Especially Stanford, as I’ve always wanted to study there while I was living in Silicon Valley. I’d also like to do a minor in Economics,” he said.
When it comes to settling down in the USA, Nischal is not so sure. “I just want to study in the USA. With India’s economy booming, I would like to come back here. ”
