BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Kevin Ryan
|
SYMMES TOWNSHIP - A bit of brotherly rivalry may have pushed Kevin Ryan, 17, to ace his SAT test.
The Sycamore High School senior earned a 1,600 - 800 in math and 800 in the language section. That's the highest score possible on the Scholastic Assessment Test, commonly known as the SAT, the most widely used college-entrance exam.
The 1,600 scored last month topped the 1,470 score he received when he first took the SAT in June - coincidently,
the same score his older brother earned. Michael, 20, is an engineering student at the University of Florida.
"That's part of it - I like to beat him. It was kind of strange how I tied him exactly," said Kevin, of Symmes Township, son of David and Carol Ryan.
Of the 1.17 million high-school seniors who took the test in 1998, only 673 earned a 1,600, said Jeffrey Penn, with The College Board in New York City. Because of how the test is scored, it is statistically possible for test takers to miss questions and still earn a 1,600, Mr. Penn said.
Kevin's achievement is a "real testimony to his ability as a student," said Vince Rahnfeld, his counselor at Sycamore High. Kevin retook the test, aiming for a 1,500 score to send out to colleges, where he wants to study electrical engineering. Math has always been his strong subject; he felt confident he could grab the maximum score there.
"In the verbal, the analogies are always the toughest. You've got to know a lot of vocabulary," he said.
If you know a student who earned a 1,600 on the October SAT, call us at 768-8602.
