Long Island Student Aces Chemistry Regents, Wins Teacher's 25-Year-Old $100 Challenge

A Long Island student has achieved a rare perfect score on the Chemistry Regents exam, successfully claiming his teacher's $100 challenge that has stood for 25 years. Jojo Yawson, a student at Baldwin High School, received a 100 on the end-of-year exam in June, a feat that surprised his teacher, Anthony Simonelli.

Simonelli had offered $100 to any student who could achieve a perfect score on the notoriously difficult Chemistry Regents exam, a challenge he has posed for a quarter-century. "When it came back with 100, my jaw almost hit the floor. Literally the last kid," Simonelli told CBS New York.

Yawson, then a sophomore, was motivated by the reward. "I definitely believed it was possible," he told the Long Island Herald. "You know, you just have to get all the questions right. Like, it’s not impossible." He described the challenge as being "mostly about just being very careful and not making any mistakes."

Despite his own uncertainties about his performance, Yawson secured a perfect score on all sections of the exam. Simonelli personally delivered the prize, a $100 bill signed by the teacher, to Yawson. "It did matter a lot. It wasn’t in the back of my mind, it was in the front of my mind," Yawson said of the money, which was engraved with a "Thank you" and his teacher's signature.

Yawson's achievement comes as New York State begins phasing out Regents exams as a graduation requirement, with plans to eliminate them entirely by 2028. This transition has drawn criticism from former officials.

This is not Yawson's first perfect Regents score. During his freshman year, he also achieved a 100 on the Biology Regents exam. His mother, Ama Karikari, expressed pride in her son's accomplishments, particularly given the learning accommodations he requires for testing. "I believe that it should really inspire students with accommodations and their families to recognize that having a learning difference can mean learning with excellence," Karikari told the outlet.

Simonelli noted that this might be the last opportunity for a student to achieve a perfect score on the Chemistry Regents exam as it is being redesigned. The state's Board of Regents is also exploring alternative graduation requirements as part of the broader shift away from standardized testing for diplomas.