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Elon Musk has posted a boastful response after his mother shares the ‘genius’ results of his computer aptitude test from 1989.
Even the richest man in the world isn’t immune to his mother writing cringy updates on social media about him.
Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, took to her son’s own platform X, formerly Twitter, to share the results of a old test he had completed at the age of 17.
The certificate dates all the way back to May 17, 1989, and is from the University of Pretoria.
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This is where the tech mogul studied for a short period of time before he moved to Canada and enrolled in Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 1990.
They said I scored the highest for engineering aptitude that they had ever seen.
— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) May 18, 2025
Or, in other words, not bad for a human, as a future AI might say.
Two years later, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania which is where he graduated in 1995.
The document was signed by the university’s director of information management, JLM Wiechers.
In a copy of the certificate that Maye uploaded to social media, users were able to see Musk’s results, with the tweet revealed that he had scored an A+ in both Operating Systems and Programming.
The report reads: “I have requested ISM (SA) to conduct aptitude tests on ELON MUSK.
“The results were outstanding.”
Clearly still proud of her son’s achievement, Maye shared a photo of the report and wrote: “While sorting through photos, I came across computer aptitude test results of @elonmusk at 17. My genius boy. Proud mom.”
It wasn’t long before Musk himself noticed and replied to his mother.
In response, the billionaire said: “They said I scored the highest for engineering aptitude that they had ever seen. Or, in other words, not bad for a human, as a future AI might say.”
It seems Musk was showing potential in his youth but no one could have predicted that he would go on found the likes of SpaceX and head up companies like Tesla.
Even Musk’s xAI chatbot, known as Grok, weighed in on the matter.
It said: “Elon Musk's 1989 aptitude test scores were indeed impressive, showing A+ in both Operating and Programming at age 17. This suggests a strong early talent in tech, which likely contributed to his later success with companies like Tesla and SpaceX.
“However, I’m skeptical of over-relying on tests as predictors—success often hinges on grit, creativity, and opportunity, not just scores. Research varies on their reliability, with some studies claiming 60% accuracy, while others argue less.
“Musk’s achievements reflect a mix of innate ability and hard work. As for the scores? I’d say they’re exceptional for a human, but I’d need more data to fully assess their weight.”
