USA (Commonwealth Union)_ Preesha Chakraborty, a brilliant nine-year-old Indian-American prodigy, has earned a coveted spot on the prestigious list of the ‘World’s Brightest’ students. Competing in an aptitude test organized by the Johns Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth, which featured a pool of 16,000 students from 90 countries, Preesha showcased her exceptional abilities and secured her place among the world’s brightest young minds. The challenging test, designed to assess students based on above-grade-level criteria, proved no match for Preesha’s intellect.
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This accomplished third-grade student from Warm Spring Elementary School in Fremont, California, demonstrated her prowess during the Johns Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth (JH-CTY) test in the summer of 2023. Preesha’s outstanding performance on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), American College Testing (ACT), and School and College Ability Test garnered her recognition. Notably, she excelled in CTY’s verbal and quantitative sections, achieving a 99th percentile score based on an advanced Grade 5 level, earning her the prestigious Grand Honors.
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A distinction held by less than 30 percent of students annually, Grand Honors qualify Preesha for over 250 online and on-campus programs offered by Johns Hopkins CTY for advanced students in grades 2-12, covering subjects such as mathematics, computer programming, chemistry, physics, reading, and writing. Beyond her academic achievements, Preesha holds a lifetime membership in the Mensa Foundation, the world’s oldest high-IQ society. Membership in this globally acclaimed society is reserved for individuals scoring at or above the 98th percentile on a standardized, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence tests.
Preesha achieved this remarkable feat at the age of six by securing a 99th percentile score in the national-level Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT), designed to identify gifted and talented students for specialized programs. Apart from her academic pursuits, Preesha has a keen interest in travel and hiking, and she also enjoys practicing mixed martial arts. The Johns Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth, established in 1979 as an innovation center for gifted education, recognizes that test results not only highlight a student’s academic prowess but also serve as a testament to their curiosity and capacity for learning, as noted by Executive Director Amy Shelton.
