Scottsdale Prep Senior Receives Perfect ACT Score

Nila Kumara is an accomplished senior at Scottsdale Prep, who recently received the news that she earned a perfect score of 36 on her ACT (American College Test). A perfect composite score requires a 36 in all four sections of the test, which include English, Math, Reading, and Science. Scoring a 34 or higher puts you in the top 1% of the more than 2 million test takers, making the highly completive perfect score even more rare, with fewer than 0.2% to 0.5% achieving it.

“To me, that means a bunch of hard work and dedication,” shared Kumara. “I’ve been studying for years, and all the things I’ve done have come together in this moment.”

The news of her score was delayed due to a problem with her login. She remembers the day she was on hold to get it straightened out. “I sat there for about 10 minutes waiting for someone to pick up [the phone], and both of my college counselors, Miss Ware and Miss Coolidge, were there,” she recalled. “When they finally picked up, I logged into my account. There was one other person in the classroom, and I just remember jumping up and down and screaming.”

The next call Kumara made was to her mother. “She said, ‘Wow,’ and asked me, ‘What did you miss on the test?’ I told her, ‘I got a perfect 36. I didn’t miss anything!’ It was such a great moment. Then I hugged my counselors, and it was beautiful.”

Kumara remembers trying to cram as much as she could during spring break, just days before the ACT was administered during her junior year, but she believes that the months of preparation and coursework helped her. “During those 10 days when I had a break, I was able to sit down and take multiple practice tests each day and work through as many problem banks as I could. I think that is what really helped me get that score and pushed me right over the edge.

“I actually remember talking with my college counselors all the way back in eighth grade. I’ve always been very inquisitive about what I need to do to prepare for college because I realized those aren’t things I can just cram into the one or two years before application season,” she said. “More than anything, they’ve been very supportive of what I’ve been doing both inside and outside of school and have given me opportunities along the way.”

The College Counseling Program is one of the ways Great Hearts goes above and beyond to prepare students for life beyond graduation. Kumara appreciates the countless hours of counsel and the many emails and newsletters they send out about different scholarships to apply for, events to attend, and summer activities to pursue. “I think that’s always been very helpful in allowing me to explore and choose different extracurricular activities.”

“I think Great Hearts deserves a lot of credit for helping me reach this accomplishment, mainly because of its classical elements and academic rigor,” she shared. “I’ve stuck with Latin and Greek throughout high school, but even going back to middle school, taking Latin for all those years taught me so much about Latin and Greek roots. So, when I encountered vocabulary on the SAT and ACT, I was able to immediately recognize the words or at least have an idea of what they meant.”

Kumara hopes to pursue a career in corporate law, with broader academic interests in political science, economics, and philosophy. As she considers colleges that will allow her to explore these interconnected fields, we look forward to seeing where her interests and talents take her. Whatever path she chooses, we have no doubt she has a bright future ahead.

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