Books stacked high on desks. Long hours in the library. Tutors booked around the clock. For juniors, these are the warning signs of many students’ worst fear: the SAT.

Senior Patrick Devaney earned a perfect score after taking the SAT in the spring. This achievement puts him in the less than 1% of students who reach this milestone, and provided an impressive bolster to his college applications.

“I’m one of those people who really likes numbers,” Devaney said. “I wanted to see how high of a number my score could get. I didn’t really have a goal in mind, but hey, I’ll take it. I wanted to get into top schools, and I do think that it was a pretty good addition to my resume.”

Devaney participated in the PSAT team to prepare for the test, and followed the path of studying that most students go down when it comes to buying prep books and making flashcards.

“I really just took practice tests over and over,” Devaney said. “I think it’s important to get to know the mechanisms of the test, maybe even more than knowing the specific course details.”

Going into the day of the test, even after months of preparation, Devaney didn’t expect a perfect result.

“I felt quite bad like that day,” Devaney said. “I really felt underprepared as just because you see people bringing out their stacks of huge prep books, and there I am with my calculator and number two pencil.”

Despite feeling unprepared, when scores were later released, Devaney was met with a welcome surprise.

“When I saw that score, I was just super confused because I thought I did  way worse,” Devaney said. “I actually thought I’d done worse than on my first time taking it. It’s kind of a mixture of shock and happiness and bewilderment.”

Devaney took the SAT twice and advocates for the importance of this option, and for flexibility in the choices students can make when taking the test based on their individual needs.

“Honestly, we see a decreasing importance of all the standardised tests, as much as I may like them because I’m good at them,” Devaney said. “They’re not a reflection of your entire self worth. Ultimately it’s just a number.”