A New Jersey teen has received the highest possible SAT score.
Sahli Negassi, a West Orange High School senior, earned a perfect 1600 on the SAT. He joins the 1% class of nationwide SAT test-takers with scores between 1550 and 1600.
The West Orange Board of Education shared the news and reported Sahli walked out of his first-period class and called his mom when he saw his perfect SAT score. When he showed a classmate, he pretended it was Photoshop.
“Honestly, it still doesn’t look right to me, like there’s a footnote at the bottom I’m missing,” Sahli said. “But I was relieved to see it anyway. I finally proved it was possible, you know? I put in the dirt, and now I can keep walking forward.”
Principal Oscar Guerrero said, “Sahli represents the best of West Orange High School.” He continued, “His achievement on the SAT is incredible, but what’s just as impressive is how he manages to excel across so many different activities.”
Despite his busy academic and athletic schedules, as a member of the cross-country and track teams, president of the math team, a varsity chess team member, and part of the Royal Strings ensemble, among other extracurriculars, Sahli prepared for the SAT using three free websites: Khan Academy, YouTube, and the SAT Educator Question Bank, according to the Board.
“Khan Academy has a great official breakdown of the test’s design, and the Question Bank is perfect for targeting specific skills,” Sahli shared. “But I needed YouTube to hunt down more of the extreme math questions that had floored me in the past.”
Sahli said the most challenging part was finding time to study.
“I had to make it whenever I could—at meals, during slow class periods, on bus rides, in the middle of physics homework,” he said. “Taking it one question at a time was good enough.”
Sahli hopes to attend his dream school, Harvard, and pursue a legal career.
He told the Board of Education, “Give me 10 years, and I’ll be out in the world doing something more important than a standardized test!”
We can’t wait to see what else you do, Sahli!
According to College Wise, in the Class of 2020, nearly 22,000 of the top 1% ranked among the 2.2 million test-takers. The average score was 1051, with 528 in reading and 523 in math.
