Schools
Whiz Kid Kelsey Lowrey Receives Top Score on the ACT
Kelsey Lowrey, a rising senior at Chamblee Charter High School, earned a top composite score of 36 (out of 36!) on a recent ACT test.
Name: Kelsey J. Lowrey
School: Chamblee Charter High School
Grade: Rising Senior
Age: 18
Accomplishment: Kelsey Lowrey, a rising senior at Chamblee Charter High School and Dunwoody resident, earned a top composite score of 36 (out of 36!) on a recent ACT test.
Key to Awesomeness:
Studying paid off for 18-year-old Kelsey Lowrey. “I got a 33 the first time I took [the ACT]. I studied a lot in between tests, so I was expecting to do better. A 34 or 35. But a 36 was really exciting!” Kelsey said.
Kelsey is referring to how studying helped her achieve a perfect score of 36 on the ACT, a college-entrance exam, often an alternate to the SAT exam. Roughly one-tenth of one percent of test-takers receive the top score.
The American College Testing Program, now officially known as the ACT, originally started in the late 1950’s. It consists of four multiple-choice sections covering English, Math, Reading, and Science.
“I scored pretty low on the science section the first time I took the ACT; it was unlike any other standardized test section I'd seen before! So I bought an ACT study book and did practice questions to get a hang of them and learn the fastest way to do them,” said Kelsey.
“Outside of school, biology is one of my favorite things to read about. Almost all the books I read out of school are nonfiction books about evolution and genetics,” she added.
She would like to continue to study biology in college, focusing on biotechnology and topics like genetic manipulation for farm animals and crops. Kelsey’s top choice is the University of Georgia, but she is also looking at Clemson, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt.
Other than science, Kelsey enjoys drawing, painting, writing and blogging. She is in National Honor Society and on the academic quiz bowl team (AQT), math team and staff of the literary magazine and school newspaper.
