Burroughs High student earns top score

A Burroughs High senior recently earned a top score on the ACT exam, accomplishing something that fewer than one-tenth of 1% of students who take the test typically achieve, according to ACT spokesperson Katie Wacker.

Nathaniel Low did not expect to earn a composite score of 36 when he took the exam earlier this year.

“When I found out, I was surprised, considering I did not spend much time studying,” he said this week.

The high school senior plans to study mechanical engineering in college and is applying to the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, UCLA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others.

Of the 1.8 million students who took the ACT exame before graduating high school in 2013, only 1,162 achieved at top score, Wacker said.

Students are tested on English, math, science and reading, and their composite score is an average of the four test scores.

For Oscar Macias, who has served as an assistant principal at Burroughs High for the past seven years, this marks the first time Macias has seen any student earn a top score on the ACT.

“We really want to brag about this young man,” he said.

--

Follow Kelly Corrigan on Twitter: @kellymcorrigan.