Russellville teen logs perfect score on ACT

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts senior Sabrina Jones of Russellville recently learned she earned a perfect score of 36 on the ACT college entrance exam.

The ACT is scored on a scale of 1 to 36, with 36 being the highest possible score. Students also receive scores in four individual testing areas, which are combined for the composite score.

Individual testing areas are English, mathematics, reading and science. The test helps institutions determine a student’s readiness for higher education across a spectrum of subjects.

The October test was the fourth time Jones had taken the ACT. Her previous top composite score was a 34. While she felt good about her composite score, she had not taken the writing section of the test, which is not a required section to receive a composite score.

Some colleges and universities require the writing score in addition to the composite score, including Stanford University in California, to which Jones plans to apply. She had to take the full test again in addition to the writing section.

“Usually my math is the thing that always brings my score down,” Jones said. “I’ll get 35 in other subjects and 36 in English. So I was happy with the 34.”

Jones said she felt good about how she performed on the test after taking it in October. She was right, not only earning the perfect composite score but also scoring a 9 out of 12 on the writing portion, good enough to be in the 95th percentile of writing-test takers.

She said she told her parents she would let them know as soon as she found out if she earned a perfect score. Her parents, Kurt and Sandra Jones, received their phone call at 2:30 a.m.

“I received an email about that time on Tuesday [Nov. 14],” said Jones, who attended Pottsville High School before choosing to attend the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts for her final two years of high school. “I was pretty excited, so I called them.”

Her father answered the phone and Jones told him she made a 36.

“He asked, ‘Is that as high as you can get?’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why I’m calling,’” Jones said. “In the background I could hear my mom saying ‘OK, now calm down and go back to bed.’

“I was really happy for a while and then calmed down and fell asleep.”