South Texas ISD student earns perfect SAT score

MERCEDES – Anjali Bhatla had to refresh her internet browser a few times before she believed what she was seeing the day before Thanksgiving.

But when the truth finally sunk in – that the South Texas ISD junior earned a perfect score of 2400 on the SAT – she quickly rushed to her dozing mother’s side and startled her with the news.

“I started yelling for my mom, but she was asleep, taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon,” Bhatla, 16, said. “At first she thought something bad had happened, but then she realized it was such a good thing!”

A student at Science Academy of South Texas, or Sci Tech, Bhatla said she never expected to accomplish a perfect score on the SAT, a college preparation exam required for many universities.

According to the district, only 384 of the more than 1.6 million students from the Class of 2011 acheived a perfect score, and just 22 of those were from Texas.

To reach that select group, Bhatla admitted she put plenty of time practicing for what many students find to be a grueling, nearly four-hour test that covers math, critical reading and writing.

“It’s such a long exam, and it’s really hard to get the motivation to sit down for three hours and take a practice test once a week,” she said. “But if (students) build that endurance, it goes a long way to helping them. It makes the test a lot easier than they’d ever imagined.

“My mom would always be after me to get a perfect score, and I just always thought that was impossible. Constant encouragement really pushed me to get there.”

When she’s not studying for the SAT – or another college prep exam, the ACT, that she took this month – Bhatla plays the piano, participates in math and science competitions, volunteers in her community and serves in the National Honor Society and on Sci Tech’s student council.

Bhatla is one of the most well-rounded students on campus, academic counselor Rosario Lozano said.

“She’s even completed summer research programs at universities,” Lozano said. “This just goes to show how hard work and her self-motivation has a lot do with her success.

“She’s very outgoing, but her self-determination says a lot of how far she can go.”

Bhatla plans to put her focus next year on applying to as many universities as possible.

She said she would prefer to pursue a career as a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University or Rice University – all very competitive colleges “that will stop when they see a perfect (SAT) score and actually (look) at my application,” Bhatla said.