Way to Go! Bellport student gets perfect score on AP exam

A Bellport High School student’s research on New York City’s specialized schools and the stereotypes associated with them has garnered her school’s first-ever perfect score on an Advanced Placement Research exam.

Rachel Li, a senior, was required to submit a college-level paper last spring that she wrote after a year’s worth of research as part of her AP Research class, which was new to the school last year, she said.

Li is among just 1.14% of AP Research exam takers worldwide to receive a perfect score, school officials said.

Li’s 20-page research paper focused on the development of the stereotype that Asian Americans are a “model minority” because of their high achievements in education and the workforce. She also investigated the debate about whether Asian Americans have a disproportionately high number of students enrolled in New York City’s specialized schools and looked at discussions surrounding that debate in newspaper articles, online comment sections and tweets.

“For research, I think it all comes down to caring about what you’re doing,” Li said. “I liked the topic, and I wanted to make something that I could be proud of.”

Li, 17, also plays viola and is the president of her school’s Key Club, vice president of the National Honor Society, and treasurer of the literary magazine. In addition, she is an AP Scholar with Distinction and a member of her school’s Math, Science, Spanish and Tri-M Music honor societies. 

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.