SUPERSCORE SCHOLAR: Scholar’s Academy senior Evan Ariail is one of the very few students across America who achieved a perfect 36, or superscore on their ACT.

THOMASVILLE- In 2022, 1,349,644 students took the ACT. According to Prep Scholar, only 3,376 of those students achieved a superscore of 36. A 36 is the rarest score a test taker can earn with .25% scoring the perfect 36. Among the top 1% of test takers is Scholar Academy’s Evan Ariail.

Before taking the ACT over the summer, Ariail had taken it once in the spring of his sophomore year, scoring a 31.

While a 31 still ranks in the top 95 percentile of students taking the standardized test, Ariail had big plans and wanted to take it once more.

He began taking Khan Academy SAT prep classes, before taking the test in June. After taking the SAT, Ariail decided he wanted to reattempt the ACT, but there were no Khan classes offered. He continued to prep through the SAT classes, as the tests are similar but formatted differently.

Although he studied diligently every day, Ariail said he never expected to achieve a superscore.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” he said. “I showed my mom and dad and my mom was over ecstatic.”

This score will allow Ariail to be highly visible on the radar of his schools of choice, including Georgia Tech, MIT, Cal Tech and Stanford, where he hopes to study Aerospace Engineering.

Ariail attributed his score to classes offered at Scholars Academy, along with holding himself accountable to study every day.

“I think something at the school that really helps you is when you’re in middle school, you’re given the option to get on an accelerated course in math that will take you a year or two ahead of your peers in the same grade,” Ariail explained. “Whereas people in my grade are taking Pre-Calculus now, I’ll be in the second year of Calculus. By getting those math courses done earlier, you’ve seen all those math equations before and know how to deal with it.”

Having a strong grasp on the equations allowed Ariail to complete the math portion of the ACT with little to no trouble. He said the most difficult part of the standardized test was the reading comprehension portion due to the fact it’s not as concrete as math or science.

“Math, you can work it out and get a number, and science you can look at the graph and only get this answer, but reading is up for interpretation,” he said.

Despite the difficulties faced in the reading comprehension portion, Ariail reminded himself that this was what he had been preparing for.

“I would look at the questions and just try to work it out,” he said. “If I realized that it’s going to take me a long time to figure out or I don’t know the fastest way to do it, I would just circle it and keep going. If I had time at the end, I would come back to it and just try to work it out in a different way.”

Ariail said questions that stumped him were not his priority, as his main focus was finishing the section.

“There could be easier questions ahead, and you wouldn’t want to miss those points, just because you got stumped on that one question.”

He encourages others looking to score higher on their next standardized test to start studying early and stay consistent in the process.

“For this, I started doing practices in April for 30/40 minutes a day, every day, and intermixing practice tests just to get the full experience,” he said. “You just have to keep on it.”

Studying not only helped Ariail see what to expect on the ACT but also how to pace himself throughout the test.

“I would look at the time when I started and see how many questions I’ve got and how I want to pace myself from there,” he said. “I would also allow some time for myself to review.”

With the ACT now in his rearview mirror, Ariail is now working to complete his college applications and focus on his AP exams.

As for the Scholar’s Academy, they couldn’t be prouder.

“We are just really proud; he’s representing Scholar’s really well and is an amazing student,” Guidance Counselor Lisa Penton concluded.