8-year-old from Surrey, B.C., among top scorers in Johns Hopkins academic test

At very first look, Zhiji Dong, who goes by Jimmy, might seem like an regular eight-12 months-old who loves sports and online video games.

But the South Surrey 3rd-grader is also one of the world’s smartest pupils.

In February, Dong gained a grand-honour award from the Johns Hopkins Heart for Proficient Youth (CTY) for being one of about 4,000 major scorers in earlier mentioned-grade-amount assessments, which establish college students in Grades 2 to 12 with substantial educational abilities.

“It was super enjoyable,” claimed Dong’s mother, Na Liu.

“It is the initial time that he [attended] this take a look at [and] he beat 99 for each cent of the learners who attended the exam.”

The CTY is a non-gain business focused to developing the abilities of K-12 college students by way of superior classes and counselling companies. College students all around the world can just take its online School and College or university Potential Checks (SCAT).

Dong took the take a look at in December 2021 as a next grader at Rosemary Heights Elementary University in South Surrey. 

Learners who move can participate in CTY’s summer camps across the U.S., which element highly developed classes in engineering, languages, historical past and additional.

“My mom advised me … that if I move the take a look at, I could go to one of the world’s greatest summertime camps. I was definitely energized about that,” he said.

Dong states the test’s math segment was his favourite — and the easiest — while the vocabulary area “was just hard.”

Liu says the examination has two sections: arithmetic and vocabulary, each with 55 inquiries that pupils need to have to comprehensive in just a time restrict of 20 minutes. 

In a launch, CTY states approximately 15,300 students from 76 countries took the checks in the course of the 2021-22 academic calendar year, but only 27 for each cent certified for high or grand-honour awards centered on their scores.

“This is not just a recognition of our students’ accomplishment on one particular test, but a salute to their adore of discovery and mastering … they have accumulated in their younger life so far,” claimed Amy Shelton, CTY’s govt director. 

“It is remarkable to think about all the approaches in which they will use that potential … in their communities and in the environment.”

CTY claims the assessments “help households and schools comprehend … how advanced the students’ academic abilities are” and how to nurture those expertise by superior courses. 

‘Many far more measures of learning’ to go

Though Dong is pleased with his results, he says he was energized to “perform online video game titles all day” as shortly as the check was around. 

“I am not the man who likes to … study all day. I come across sports activities considerably a lot more satisfying,” he mentioned, pointing to a wall adorned with medals and colourful ribbons from his favourite activity, pace skating. 

Liu claims neither she nor her husband expected Dong to do so nicely in the assessments. 

She states they prepared for the check by looking through jointly and going by CTY’s practice concerns, which turned a discovering opportunity for them both.

“I really don’t even know [some of the words], so we just [checked] to discover jointly,” she said.  “He can function the logistics considering pretty swiftly, a great deal more rapidly than I can.”

Liu claims provided Dong’s age, they’re not pretty completely ready to allow him attend a CTY summertime camp by himself, but they hope he can attend a person in 2024. 

In the meantime, Dong’s not confident yet what he wishes to do in the future, but for now he’s open up to many possibilities.

“It relies upon on my curiosity … if I’m fascinated in science, I might be a scientist. If I’m interested in athletics, then I’m likely to be an athlete or one thing,” he stated, including he has a lot more to master in spite of his results.

“It is a great achievement, but not exactly wonderful since you will find even now several far more methods of discovering you have to actually do.”