Mount Maunganui College student Sam Taylor has high hopes for the future. Photo / George Novak
Mount Maunganui College student Sam Taylor has high hopes for the future. Photo / George Novak
Gleaming badges with the word "academic" lining his blazer, it is clear that the Mount's Sam Taylor knows his way around a textbook.
The Mount Maunganui College student has pulled off the rare feat of taking out a perfect score in the United State's latest annual SAT test.
This puts Taylor in the top two per cent of the 2.1 million students who sat the test.
With a dream of attending America's Harvard University stretching as far as he can remember, Taylor said he knew would have to work hard to make it a reality.
Through years of hard work, topping subjects year in and year out and taking away junior dux in 2017 at Mount Maunganui College, 17-year-old Taylor felt prepared when he sat down to take the long-awaited SAT test.
An SAT test was an option for New Zealand students who were considering college in America.
The USA-based test was made up of four sections: reading, maths, writing, language and an optional essay. The scoring was scaled from 400 to 1600.
A perfect SAT score was incredibly rare. In 2018, only seven per cent of the approximately 2.1 million students who took the test scored between 1400 and 1600.
Evidently, only around 300 students globally managed to lock down the perfect score, said Taylor.
Mount Maunganui College student Sam Taylor. Photo / George Novak
He had instantly felt relieved when he saw he had passed, but that relief quickly turned to excitement when he saw that he had not got a single question wrong. A perfect score.
His dream of attending an American university was now in arms reach.
With his portfolio of serving on the school's board of trustees, filling the spot of Todd Muller's youth MP and competing in debating competitions, he was a good candidate for the university.
The fact he was an international student from New Zealand would also help, he said.
As a boy who remembered years by when the last election was, it was clear what Taylor was interested in studying.
Taylor planned to study law and economics, with hopes of returning to New Zealand after study to serve in Parliament.
He dreamed of one day taking up the role as New Zealand Prime Minister.
The news of his perfect score had received a good reception from the school, teachers and the community were congratulating Taylor on the achievement. His parents were also pleased.
Mount Maunganui College principal Alastair Sinton said the whole school community was extremely proud about Taylor's "global achievement".
