- Central High
- Homepage
West Middle student gets perfect score on ACT
2/7/2019 -- Congratulations to Wilson Gao, a West Middle eighth-grader, for getting a perfect score on the ACT test! Gao scored a 36 -- the highest possible score -- on the ACT college admissions and placement exam. Normally, the ACT is not taken until a student is junior in high school.
Nationally, while the actual number of students earning the top score varies from year to year, on average, less than one-tenth of one percent of students who take the ACT earn a top score. In the U.S. high school graduating class of 2017, only 2,760 out of nearly two million graduates 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.
Watch a story on KSDK, Channel 5 here and read about Gao in this recent Post-Dispatch story.