Local student gets his ACT just right

  • 2015-09-10
It was recently reported on StarLocalMedia.com site, in the Allen America section, that an Allen senior attained a perfect ACT score.

A homeschooled Allen senior, Cornell (Alex) Holmes, aced each of the four parts of the ACT exam to earn a perfect composite score of 36. On average this is achieved nationally by less than 0.1% of the test’s takers. To drive home the rarity of this accomplishment, in 2014, almost 1.85 million students took the ACT, yet an overall score of 36 was earned by only 1,407 of them.

The ACT test is actually made up of four separate tests and an optional fifth one. Students can earn a maximum score of 36 in each of reading, English, mathematics, and science. The composite score is the average of all four scores, meaning that a composite score of 36 is only possible with a perfect score on each of the four individual tests. The fifth test is an optional one in writing and does not figure into the composite score.

Although colleges use a variety of criteria when evaluating students for admission, the ACT, which is used to predict college readiness, plays a significant role. For this reason, flyer printing companies are often employed by tutoring services, as well as those that sell ACT test prep materials to entice families looking to give their student a little extra help.