Maye Musk posted a scanned college aptitude test dated May 17, 1989, showing 17‑year‑old Elon Musk earned A+ marks in Operating and Programming and an overall rating of "Outstanding." Elon added that examiners told him he had the highest engineering‑aptitude score they'd seen, a detail not printed on the scan. The test complements earlier signs of his computing interest—he wrote and sold the game Blastar at 12—and precedes his roles at Zip2, X.com/PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla.
Maye Musk Shares 1989 Aptitude Test Showing 17‑Year‑Old Elon Scored ‘Outstanding’ and A+ in Computing
Image of CEO Elon Musk by Frederic Legrand - COMEO via Shutterstock
Maye Musk, model and dietitian, posted a scanned copy of a decades‑old computer aptitude test taken by her son, Elon Musk, when he was 17. Shared on X in May 2025, the document—dated May 17, 1989—originates from the University of Pretoria and records A+ grades in both Operating and Programming, with the university's director of information management summarizing the results as "Outstanding."
What the Document Shows
The formal test results, administered by ISM South Africa, confirm the top marks in computing subjects. While the scanned page itself lists the A+ scores and the one‑word assessment, Elon Musk added context in a reply to his mother's post: he said examiners told him he had "scored the highest for engineering aptitude that they had ever seen." That specific claim comes from Musk's recollection and is not printed on the surviving scan, which nevertheless corroborates his exceptional academic performance in computing at the time.
Early Signs Of A Technical Bent
The aptitude sheet complements other early indicators of Musk's interest in computers. At age 12 he wrote a simple space‑themed video game called Blastar and sold the code for roughly $500; the game was later published in PC and Office Technology. Those youthful achievements preceded a career that moved from software into transportation, spaceflight and other technologies.
From Software To Rockets And Cars
Musk's subsequent ventures trace a path from internet services to aerospace and automotive innovations: he co‑founded Zip2 in the 1990s, co‑founded X.com (which became PayPal) and was a major PayPal shareholder before its 2002 sale to eBay. In 2002 he founded SpaceX. Tesla was founded by others, but Musk joined as an early investor and board member in 2004 and became CEO in 2008. Today, his activities span electric vehicles, reusable rockets, artificial intelligence, brain‑computer interfaces and infrastructure projects.
Maye Musk captioned the post: "My genius boy. Proud mom." Elon replied: "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."
While a single test doesn't explain every later step, the 1989 results provide a concrete early data point that aligns with Musk's long‑standing technical interests. For investors and observers, the document offers a glimpse into skills and inclinations that appeared well before his high‑profile companies dominated headlines.
Source: Scan posted by Maye Musk on X (May 2025); original article published on Barchart.com. Note: On the date of the original publication, Caleb Naysmith did not hold positions, directly or indirectly, in any securities mentioned in the original article.
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