Fil-Am kid gets perfect score in advanced calculus test

MANILA, Philippines – Acing a standardized exam is rare. Perfecting a standardized calculus exam is even rarer.

Seventeen-year-old Cedrick Argueta from Los Angeles has done just that – news that should make Filipino Americans proud.

Argueta, who got a perfect score in the Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus AB exam, is the son of a Filipina nurse and a Salvadoran maintenance worker, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday, January 27.

He is just one of 12 students around the world – out of a total of 302,532 who took the test in May 2015 – to get a correct answer for every single item in the standardized test, administered by the College Board, a non-profit institution.

Argueta also had perfect scores in the science and math sections of the ACT college-entrance exam, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) said in a news release Monday, January 25.

The results of the exam can be used as possible credit towards a college degree.

Cedrick’s mother, Lilian Argueta said in an interview with the LA Times that Cedrick’s accomplishment is “still sinking in.”

She told the newspaper that she is “just thankful” for having “two perfect kids,” a son and a younger daughter.

A senior at the Lincoln High School in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Argueta is described as “unassuming,” a kid whose interests include basketball and reading.

The LAUSD also noted that he is a volunteer at the Bonnie Brae Convalescent Hospital, where his mother and father, Marcos, both work.

Cedrick credits what the College Board calls as a “remarkable achievement” to “everybody else that helped me along the way,” including his calculus teacher, Anthony Yom.

He aims to gain admission into the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), “as the first step toward a career with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,” the LAUSD said. – Rappler.com