1,600 on the SAT? That’s Just Perfect : Andrew Ting Scores Big, Then Takes a Cello Break

It’s the mind-taxing test every high school student dreads, the one exam that affects everything from college to careers, and Andrew S.H. Ting now gets to go through life saying he aced it.

After studying hard for about two months, the Laguna Hills High School senior knew he would do pretty well on last month’s Scholastic Assessment Test.

But until the envelope containing his results arrived this week, Ting never dreamed he’d score the maximum 1,600, making him one of only a few students nationwide who manage such a feat each year.

“I opened it and looked,” said Ting, who turned 17 two days after the Oct. 7 test. “At first, I didn’t see the two 800s. Then I looked at it again! I announced to my dad that I got 1,600 and we hugged each other. Then my mom came home and she called all her friends. Then I went and played my cello for an hour, and it calmed me down.”

Under a new grading system implemented last year, students can achieve a perfect score on the SAT despite missing one or two questions, because the questions are now weighted differently.

In another break with tradition, students are permitted to use calculators. For the record, however, Ting did not.

Testing officials insist these minor changes make the test no less rigorous than in years past. Scoring 800 on the math portion and 800 on the verbal portion remains “a significant achievement,” said Kevin Gonzalez, spokesman for the Educational Testing Service of Princeton. N.J., which administers the SAT.

“ You sit down and you try taking the test,” Gonzalez said chuckling, “and you tell me if it’s easier.”

Since ETS does not track scores by region or state, Gonzalez could not say how many Orange County or Southern California students have registered perfect scores through the years.

But in the 1993-94 school year--the last year for which data is available--only 25 out of 2.5 million managed to do so.

Ting’s secret?

“I prayed,” he said earnestly.

Besides spiritual guidance, Ting found strength in another good book, the Barron’s SAT guide, a hefty volume that has a special place on the bookshelf of nearly every college-bound high school senior.

“I’d taken seven practice tests before,” Ting said. “I studied extensively. But it did pay off.”

Besides maintaining his 4.81 grade-point average, Ting spends his time performing with the Saddleback Symphony Orchestra and studying kung fu.

He intends to take the test to earn his purple belt today.

For fun, Ting likes to surf the Internet and read. He enjoys all kinds of books, but science fiction and mysteries are his favorites.

“There are a lot of mystery writers I like,” he said. “Agatha Christie. James Bond novels. I want to see the new movie. I also like reading short stories.”

Next year, Ting hopes to use his perfect score to get into Harvard, where his older sister already attends college.

Stanford and USC are his second choices; Yale is out because he doesn’t want to attend his sister’s rival school.

Following college, Ting hopes to become a physicist, unlocking the mysteries of the universe in the same methodical way that he unraveled the SAT.

“I love physics,” he said, “because it attempts to explain the universe as a whole. Science is very objective and very logical, and it’s very hard to dispute. Things like biology and chemistry, they’re good but too limiting.”

In the meantime, Ting’s fellow students are showing him the proper respect. He said one of his favorite teachers wrote his score on the blackboard and raved about it to a class of freshmen, who were suitably awed.

But for the most part, Ting tries not to dwell on his recent taste of perfection.

“It’s nice to be smart,” he said, “and it’s an extra advantage, but I definitely don’t want to get too prideful about it.”

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Measuring Up

A perfect Scholastic Aptitude Test score of 1,600 combines 800 on both the verbal and math portions. A comparison of 1995 state and nationwide averages and the highest district averages in Orange County:

Verbal

Perfect score: 800

U.S. average: 428

California average: 417

County highest averages*: 471

Math

Perfect score: 800

U.S. average: 482

California average: 485

County highest averages*: 577

* Overall countywide average unavailable; highest district averages are from Laguna Beach Unified (verbal) and Irvine Unified (math).

Source: Times reports