ASMSA student earns perfect score on ACT in fourth go

HOT SPRINGS — Sabrina Jones told her parents that if she scored a perfect score on the ACT, she would let them know as soon as she found out — regardless of what time it was.

That turned out to be a very early call — 2:30 in the morning, to be exact.

“I received an email about that time on Nov. 14,” said Jones, a senior from Russellville 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, Kurt Jones, answered the phone. Sabrina told him she had made a 36.

“He asked, ‘Is that as high as you can get?’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why I’m calling.’ In the background, I could hear my mom (Sandra Jones) saying, ‘OK, now calm down and go back to bed.’ I was really happy for a while and then calmed down and fell asleep.”

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. The 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 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, to which Jones plans to apply. That meant 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. I’ll get 35 in other subjects and 36 in English. So I was happy with the 34,” Jones said.

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