RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — There aren't too many people that ace the SAT exam. The numbers say less than 1% score a perfect 1600. For a parent, it's a dream come true.
Senior-to-be Justin Ricketts will have his pick of colleges nationwide with scholarships lined up.
"I actually found out my score during first period the day the scores came out," Ricketts said.
He said he was sitting around with friends in class when they checked their scores all at the same time.
"It was a bit of like, 'OK, something is not right here.' I looked over it a couple of times and it kind of sunk in," he said. "I was like, OK, it was a good feeling when it sunk in."
Ricketts scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT exam. His score puts him in the top 1% of the roughly 2 million test-takers. So, of course, the question is how much did this kid study?
"The night before, I reviewed some geometry skills that would be on there," he said. "Maybe some writing skills that they might test, so I had to make sure I knew. I did, like, some little reviews here and there."
Ricketts will be a senior at Suncoast Community High School in the fall. Throughout his high school career, he's been a straight-A student. He said his parents have played a huge part in his success.
"I would like to say it's all me, but you never know," he said. "It's something they've done since the beginning, basically."
Ricketts interviewed for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He's participating in a six-week summer program that takes in 80 students from around the world to conduct research on neuroscience. He said just looking around at what has happened recently, he truly feels blessed.
"Oh, definitely. I think, honestly, with regards to everything, I feel like I am," he said.
Ricketts said the MIT program ends three days before school starts up again. So, he's not going to have much time to relax this summer.
MIT is one of the schools he's looking to attend.