A TEEN’S TAKE: Jeffrey Liu on acing the reading portion of the ACT

“I did some practice tests and studied a little. The ACT’s somewhat hard, but it’s essentially the LEAP at a higher level. If I didn’t know something, I was able to make educated guesses by analyzing the question. I thought I’d done well, but was surprised to see that I’d made a perfect score in the reading part.”

Age: 14

School: Glasgow Middle School

Parents: Yunqi Liu and Xiujuan Yuan

Book: “A Game of Thrones.” “If I’m really interested in a book, I can read it in one or two days. I have a Kindle but usually prefer to read a hardback or paperback book…it seems more like a ‘real book.’”

Music: A variety of music

Movie: “Rush Hour”

TV show: “No favorite. We do not have cable. My parents dropped the cable service a few years ago because they thought we were watching too much TV. When I do watch TV, it is usually YouTube or Anime. I watch TV on my computer. My favorite video game, at the moment, is ‘Starcraft II.’”

Role model: Steve Jobs.

Hangout: My house

Extra: Liu has been in the gifted program since kindergarten. “The program has provided me with the opportunity to participate in smaller classes, to learn how to think at higher levels and to interact with other students who are my intellectual peers…My teachers have been awesome; they’ve allowed me to explore my own interests and to analyze information.” He was awarded the Duke Talent Search Talent Identification Program’s full scholarship for summer studies as a result of his high ACT score. He wants to one day attend Yale University and pursue a career in law or sociology. He wants to retake the ACT and aim for an even higher score.

Chante Dionne Warren

Special to The Advocate