West High Senior Earns Perfect Score on SAT
A West High School senior has received a 1600 on his Scholastic Aptitude Test, the first student from the campus to obtain a perfect score in the Torrance school’s 36-year history, officials announced Wednesday.
Zachary Fornaca, 17, obtained the perfect score without preparing beforehand. It was the first time he took the test.
“It was quite a surprise,” said Fornaca, who hopes to attend Pomona College. “I did nothing to prepare for it, I’ve never taken one of the classes. . . . It kind of blew me away.”
The Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., which administers the test, said that of the 1.8 million students nationwide who took the SAT in 1996, only 545 students earned perfect scores.
George Floratos, coordinator of the gifted and talented education program at the high school, said school officials were surprised, but thrilled by Fornaca’s performance.
“We’ve been awfully close before, but never have we had a perfect score,” Floratos said. “It was surprising from someone who didn’t put an awful lot of focus on the test.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
