Elon Musk's Mother Shares 1989 Aptitude Test Results Revealing 'Highest Engineering Aptitude' Score Of Tesla CEO At Age 17

Maye Musk, mother of Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, revealed on Sunday a 1989 computer aptitude test showing her son’s exceptional engineering potential at age 17.

What Happened: “While sorting through photos, I came across computer aptitude test results of Elon Musk at 17. My genius boy. Proud mom,” the 77-year-old model and dietitian wrote on X.

The University of Pretoria document, dated May 17, 1989, shows Musk received A+ scores in both operating and programming on ISM tests, results that the tech mogul claimed were unprecedented.

“They said I scored the highest for engineering aptitude that they had ever seen,” Musk commented. “Or, in other words, not bad for a human, as a future AI might say.”

This revelation comes amid Musk’s continued focus on artificial intelligence through his companies, xAI and Tesla, which are developing AI technologies for various applications.

Why It Matters: The aptitude scores offer insight into Musk’s early technical abilities, long before founding companies like SpaceX and becoming CEO of Tesla. These early indicators of technical prowess preceded his emergence as the world’s richest individual, currently worth over $381 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Despite her son’s immense wealth, Maye Musk recently revealed she sleeps in modest accommodations when visiting him. “You can’t have a fancy house near a rocket site,” she explained in a previous interview, referencing his Texas SpaceX facility.

Maye has frequently recounted the family’s humble beginnings following her 1979 divorce, when financial constraints meant feeding her children bean stew rather than expensive cereals. “I remember Elon saying, ‘I always wanted Coco Pops, but we only got Raisin Bran,'” she told Fox News.

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