Three juniors in the Great Falls Public Schools system have achieved what very few students nationwide accomplish — perfect scores on the ACT. The ACT is a standardized test used for admissions to some colleges in the United States.
Tommy Lynch reports - watch:
Lex Leatham from Great Falls High School and Ian Arthur and Rye Wise from CMR High School all scored a perfect 36 on the test, placing them among an elite group of students nationwide.
"I did a lot of practice tests," Leatham said.
According to the ACT website, the average score for Montana students in 2024 was 19.5, making these perfect scores even more remarkable.
"I know I was prepared. I know I did the work. So going into that, I knew it was going to be a decent score no matter what," Arthur said.
All three students are 4.0 students who dedicated significant time to preparing for the exam.
"I spent a lot of my time reading an ACT book just to study the general idea of the test," Wise said.
Nationwide, only about 3,300 students out of 1.3 million test-takers achieved perfect scores in 2022.
The students admitted they were surprised by their success.
"No, I did not expect this," Leatham said.
"I did not expect this," Arthur said.
In retrospect, the students believe their extensive preparation may have been more than necessary.
"The couple days before the test, you know, all that you're going to know. So just relax," Arthur said.
"You don't need a lot of prep to go into, as long as you understand what the test looks like," Wise said.
Their academic achievement has given them a certain level of recognition among their peers.
"It's weird, like coming to school the next day, and then people that I've never spoken to are like, are you the one who got a 36?" one of the students said.
For these high-achieving students, the perfect scores represent validation of their hard work.
"It's nice. It's kind of some security," Arthur said.
"It's a nice way to look back and say everything that I did, it had a result," Wise said.
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