Grade 12 Student Gets Perfect AP Score

Luke Wang loves languages. “To me, language is a very important tool. The more languages you have in your back pocket, the more options you have, the more people you can talk to, and the more ideas can be exchanged.” In fact, Luke is so interested in languages — Mandarin in particular — that he recently received a perfect score on the AP Chinese Language and Culture exam that he wrote last spring. 

His achievement is so rare that Trevor Packer, Head of the Advanced Placement Program, congratulated him directly. In a message to Headmaster Fellin, Mr. Packer said that Luke was one of only 26 students in the world to earn every point possible on the AP Chinese Language and Culture Exam, receiving the maximum score on each portion of the exam. “We applaud [Luke's] hard work and the AP teacher responsible for engaging students and enabling them to excel in a college-level course.”

Luke attributes his success to careful studying and support from his parents and teacher. “I was speaking Mandarin at home as much as I could with my parents, and read Mandarin books with my mom,” he says. “In class, our tests were formatted to the AP style, so I was already very much accustomed to how the test was going to be. The teacher was extremely patient, and she would be honest and make sure we knew everything we needed to.”

Luke’s exam day strategy included a good night of sleep, and relaxing with a book or some music. “Anything to take my mind off of the test that’s coming up,” he says. As for writing the exam, things worked out in his favour: “The test was done on a computer, thank goodness we didn’t have to write. My handwriting in Chinese is really ugly!”