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West High 10th grader aces ACT
1/22/2021 -- Nathan Zhou a 10th grader at West High School recently learned he scored a 36 -- the highest possible score -- on the ACT college admissions and placement exam. He took the ACT in December.
At this time, Zhou, a sophomore, is not sure where he’ll attend university but plans to study STEM and thinks he’ll have a career in the STEM field. Outside of school, Zhou participates in taekwondo, swimming, along with playing the violin and the French horn.
Nationally, while the actual number of students earning the top score varies from year to year, on average, fewer than 1% of students who take the ACT earn a top score. In the U.S. high school graduating class of 2020, only 5,579 out of nearly 1.67 million students who took the ACT earned a composite score of 36.
The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science, each scored on a scale of 1–36. A student's composite score is the average of the four test scores. The score for ACT’s optional writing test is reported separately and is not included within the ACT composite score.
The ACT is a curriculum-based achievement exam that measures what students have learned in school. Students who earn a 36 composite score have likely mastered all of the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in first-year college courses in the core subject areas. ACT scores are accepted by all major four-year colleges and universities across the U.S.