Indian-American girl Natasha Perianayagam among 'world’s brightest' for second time

She scored the highest marks among candidates in the latest attempt. Less than 27 percent of the 15,300 candidates who took the tests, qualified for the CTY ceremony, receiving either high or grand honours based on their test scores.

Indian-American teen Natasha Perianayagam was on Monday named in a list of the 'world's brightest' school students - by the United States-based Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth (CTY) - for a second year, news agency PTI reported. The results are based on above-grade-level tests the institute held across 76 countries for over 15,000 students.

Natasha, 13, is a student of Florence M Gaudineer Middle School in New Jersey. She took the same test in 2021, when she was in Class 5. (PTI)

Who is Natasha Perianayagam?

Natasha, 13, is a student of Florence M Gaudineer Middle School in New Jersey. She took the same test in 2021, when she was in Class 5.

In that test, Natasha reportedly performed well in the verbal and quantitative sections - on par with the 90th percentile of advanced Class 8 performances - and bagged the honour.

This time, she aced several tests, including SAT (formerly the Scholastic Aptitude Test) and similar assessments taken as part of CTY talent search, the Johns Hopkins university said.

Natasha's parents hail from Chennai and she likes doodling and reading JRR Tolkien's novels.

She scored the highest marks among candidates in the latest attempt.

Less than 27 percent of the 15,300 candidates who took the tests, qualified for the CTY ceremony, receiving either high or grand honours based on their test scores.