9-year-old Indian-American on "World's Brightest" students list

Nine-year-old Indian-American schoolgirl Preesha Chakraborty was recently named in the "World's Brightest" students list by Johns Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth. The list is based on the results of above-grade-level tests of over 16,000 students across 90 countries.

Preesha took the US-based Johns Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth (JH-CTY) test in Summer 2023 as a student of grade 3 at Warm Springs Elementary School in Fremont, California. She was honoured for showcasing exceptional performance on the SAT, ACT, School and College Ability Test, or similar assessments as part of the CTY Talent Search.

Every year, less than 30 percent of students qualify for either High Honors or Grand Honors/SET based on their test scores. Preesha aced her test's verbal and quantitative sections and was on par with the 99th percentile of advanced grade 5 performances. She was able to grab the Grand Honors with her test performance. 

Preesha also happens to be a lifetime member of the Mensa Foundation – one of the oldest high-IQ societies in the world. Membership for this foundation is open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ, or other approved intelligence tests. Preesha achieved this accomplishment at the age of six by securing 99 percentiles in the national level NNAT (Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test), which assesses K-12 students for gifted and talented programmes.