Toms River Student Earns Perfect Score On AP Chemistry Exam

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Emily Ostermann talks about chemistry and molecules the way some people talk about sandwiches.

"I'm kind of an artistic person," Ostermann, a senior at Donovan Catholic, said Thursday. "I love the spatial arrangement of the atoms." In her AP Biology course, they are, "studying complex molecules, and how their structure contributes to their function."

Ostermann, from Toms River, clearly understands that better than most: She is one of three students in the world to achieve a perfect score on Advanced Placement Chemistry exam that was administered in May 2017 by the College Board.

"The College Board just informed Emily of this achievement and noted that she is just one of three students in the world to earn every point possible on this difficult assessment," Donovan Catholic officials said in an announcement. Students take the test for the possibility of earning college credit or placement into more advanced courses in college.

The chemistry test, which she took as a junior, includes 60 multiple-choice questions and seven free-response questions, four short and three long.

These are not your average multiple-choice questions, however; a chemical reaction is presented, followed by questions that require math calculations and a thorough understanding of the material. One sample question in the AP Chemistry exam guide talks about the reaction of potassium and chlorine, describes the chemical process to combine the two, and then asks questions such as "How much heat is released or absorbed when 0.050 mol of chlorine gas is formed from potassium chloride?" (The question is presented using the letters that represent the elements, by the way.)

Ostermann, who plans to study electrical engineering in college, hopes to take her understanding of chemistry and combine it with engineering for use in agricultural technology, to help expand sustainable agriculture and improve nutrition as a whole. She's considering Cornell University in New York, Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, Princeton, North Carolina State and Villanova, but has not finalized her college plans, she said.

"For example, free-range livestock: Cows that are fed grass instead of wheat, (studies show) the composition of the lipids (the fats) in their bodies is different from those fed grain," she said. And how human bodies react to those fats is different as well, she said. Add in the environmental effects of pesticides and the use of antibiotics in livestock and how those have helped create a class of bacteria that are antibiotic-resistant, Ostermann said, and there's a range of things that come from agriculture that affect our health.

"If you go to the root, agriculture, a lot of these things can be fixed," Ostermann said.

With her understanding of chemistry, it appears anything is possible.

Photo provided by Donovan Catholic High School