Nearly 2 million high school students have taken the ACT test since June and only a tiny fraction of them earn the highest score possible. Even fewer get a perfect score on their first try.
Robbinsdale Armstrong High School senior Mio Aoki-Sherwood did.
"I was definitely happy when I learned about my score, and a little surprised because it was my first time taking the test so I really did not know what to expect," Aoki-Sherwood said, according to a news release issued by Robbinsdale Area Schools.
Aoki-Sherwood also is in line to earn another prized academic honor. She is a semifinalist in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program. Winners will be announced this month.
The ACT test is a standardized entrance exam used by many colleges and universities to make admissions decisions.
Students answer 215 multiple-choice questions covering English, math, reading and science. A fifth area, a writing section, is optional. Students receive a composite score between 1 and 36 based on the average scores in each of the four sections. A writing score for students who take it is computed separately.
The national average for students in the class of 2020 who took the test was 20.6, the lowest composite score in a decade, according to the Iowa-based testing company. Students from traditionally underserved racial and ethnic groups don't fare as well on the test and had an average score of 17.7.
In Minnesota, the average score was 21.3, ACT officials said. Only 169 out of 56,706 ACT test-takers in the graduating class of 2020 earned a 36, said Tarah DeSousa, a test company spokeswoman.