Neighbor Spotlight: North Allegheny’s Owen Prem earns perfect score on SAT, ACT college entrance exams
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Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would like to nominate someone as a Neighbor Spotlight, see northjournal.com, select the “Post Story” button in the upper right corner and complete the form to publish your nomination. Questions? Email Neighborhood News Network editor Katie Green at kgreen@triblive.com.
North Allegheny senior Owen Prem was like any high schooler who takes college entrance exams when he sat for the SAT and ACT tests last year.
He was determined to do his best to prepare and hoped to score high enough to get him into the university of his choice.
But that’s where the differences end for Prem, 18, of Franklin Park.
The first time Prem took the pair of college entrance exams he earned perfect scores.
“I did some prep at home but I didn’t have a tutor or take any practice tests,” said Prem. “I wouldn’t say I have a photographic memory, but retaining information comes naturally to me. I competed in a national geographic bee in elementary school and was able to memorize all the capitals of the world.”
Prem said while he felt he did well on the SAT test, getting a top score of 1,600 “was a shock.”
“They release the test results early in the morning, so I would log in to the SAT website to check before going to school,” he said. “When I saw what my score was, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
Prem said when taking the math portion of the test “you usually know if you’re doing it right,” but the English and reading sections are more subjective.
“I thought I did well on the math, but I felt there was a chance I would only get about 60 or 70% correct on the other portion of the test,” he said.
While Prem hoped that he did well on the ACT test, he was less concerned because “I already got what I wanted with the SAT score, so if I did well on the second test it would be like a cherry on top.”
Prem said he felt “really encouraged” when he learned that he also got the highest possible score on the ACT test — a 36.
“It showed me that I could really do it, that my score on the SAT wasn’t a fluke,” he said.
Fewer than 0.5% of students who take the ACT earn a top score, according to the nonprofit organization that administers the exam.
In the U.S. high school graduating class of 2020, only 5,579 out of 1.67 million students who took the ACT earned a top composite score of 36.
The ACT exam consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science, each scored on a scale of 1 to 36.
“Earning a top score on the ACT is a remarkable achievement,” said Janet Godwin, the organization’s CEO. “A student’s exceptional score of 36 will provide any college or university with ample evidence of their readiness for the academic rigors that lie ahead.”
The ACT exam is designed to measure what students have learned in school, according to the organization.
“Students who earn a 36 composite score have likely mastered all of the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in first-year college courses in the core subject areas,” officials from the organization said.
Of the nearly 2.2 million people who took the SAT last year, 7% earned a score of between 1,400 and 1,600, according to The College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers the test. Only about 500 people, or 0.03%, of those who took the test last year got a 1,600.
Prem said while he is a straight “A” student, he does struggle with English writing.
“That’s an area that I set my mind on trying to improve, ” he said. “I think the ACT and SAT scores show that I am starting to get better at it.”
Prem, who has been entering robotics competitions since he was in fourth grade, said while he has not yet made a career choice, he is leaning toward studying computer science in college.
“It’s something that really interests me,” he said. “I also like data science, which involves statistics. I’ll be taking an AP statistics course this year, which should help me figure out if it’s for me or not.”
Prem’s father works as a software engineer and his mother worked as an accountant. His brother is studying to be a computer systems engineer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Prem said he hasn’t made a decision about where to attend college, but he has his eyes on Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
“I’ll probably look at a ton of colleges, but we visited the Cornell campus during a family vacation and I really liked it there,” he said. “I also like the fact I’d still be within driving distance of Pittsburgh.”
Prem’s mother, Marcy Prem, said she, too, was shocked at how well he did on the tests.
“He began reading at a very early age and was a voracious reader as a child,” Marcy Prem said. “I remember sitting and reading to him and he wanted me to turn the pages before I was even done.
“I wondered if he was reading and retaining it, so I would question him about the book and realized that he was actually reading it himself,” she said.
Marcy Prem said while the family is “academically minded” and strongly believes in the value of education, she and her husband do not pressure their children to achieve unrealistic goals.
“Owen doesn’t need a lot of motivation or monitoring to do his work, he’s very good at focusing on what he has to do,” she said. “We’re proud of his accomplishments and know that he is heading in the right direction.”