Luke Adams, a senior at Putnam City North High School, was recently notified that he earned a perfect score on his ACT – a composite score of 36.
The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1 to 36, and a student's composite score is the average of the four test scores.
Nationally, while the actual number of students earning a composite score of 36 varies from year to year, roughly one-tenth of one percent receive a top score. Among test takers in the high school graduating class of 2011, only 704 of more than 1.6 million students earned a composite score of 36.
Adams said he found out about his perfect score when he came home from school one day and his mother said she had something to show him. She led him to the computer screen, where he saw the official ACT results. Next to his name was a 36 – a perfect score.
“I was really surprised. I’d worked hard, but I wasn’t expecting that,” Adams says.
ACT test scores are accepted by all major U.S. colleges, and exceptional scores of 36 provide colleges with evidence of student readiness for the academic rigors that lie ahead.
Adams is looking forward to the rigors of college. Nearing the end of a high school career that includes being a National Merit Semifinalist, an Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute student and a two-time All-State band member, Adams now has seven universities on his radar screen. Wherever he goes, he plans to study biomedical engineering or biochemistry, paths that may lead him to medical school.
Adams’ parents are proud.
“Luke has worked hard to develop the gifts God has given him. As grateful as his mother and I are for his academic achievements, we are most thankful for the young man he has become. He has a good heart to go with a strong mind,” says Adams’ father, Randy.
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• For more information about Luke Adams, please contact Steve Lindley, Putnam City Schools, 495-5200, ext. 1204, or slindley@putnamcityschools.org
• For more information about the ACT and ACT scores, please call Nancy Owen at (319) 341-2289 or nancy.owen@act.org