Catherine Kwon, a junior at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, recently earned a 36 on the ACT — a perfect score.
Kwon took the universal ACT test, which every junior in Arkansas took for free, in February. It was the second time the student from Little Rock had taken the college-readiness assessment test. She scored a 35 on her previous attempt in 2019.
She was surprised to find out that she had received the perfect score. ASMSA students had been sent home to begin remote instruction because of the COVID-19 outbreak in mid-March. The test score arrived the next week.
“I was kind of scared to open it at first,” Kwon said. “I actually didn’t have as much time to practice for this one. I was going to take the SAT too, but it was canceled because of the coronavirus. So it turned out pretty good. Now I can focus on other things I want to do.”
Kwon said her parents were pleased with the score as well. “I think they were happier than I was,” she said with a laugh.
Even though she didn’t have as many opportunities to study for this attempt, Kwon said her previous preparations were important to her success. She studied and took several practice tests before her first attempt.
“I feel the most important thing to do is to take a practice test before the real one. And you should always study the answers that you got wrong,” Kwon said.