Crystal Lake South Student Achieves Perfect ACT Score

Jacob Anderson, a senior at Crystal Lake South High School, recently received a perfect score of 36 on the ACT exam. While almost 1.8 million students take the ACT exam each year, only 1,407 received a score of 36 in 2013, according to the most recent available data from ACT. That equates to just 0.076 percent of test takers achieving the perfect score.

“I was surprised to hear I got the perfect score. I was taking the ACT for fun, as a practice test,” said Jacob Anderson.

This was the second time Anderson took the test. The first time he received a score of 34, and he expected to take the test at least two more times.

“He’s a bright kid,” said Brett Collins, Jacob’s counselor at South.

Anderson is currently taking five AP courses. He will have completed a total of 11 AP courses when he graduates in May 2016. Earlier this year Anderson was named an Illinois State Scholar.

Jacob is also a candidate for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students. Applicants are invited to apply to this program and it requires exceptional national test scores and a nomination from the State Superintendent or a U.S. Department of Education partner organization, according to program eligibility criteria. Only 161 students may be named as Presidential Scholars each year, according to the U.S. Department of Education website.

Anderson has applied to several top engineering colleges, including Purdue University, University of Illinois’s Engineering Physics program, University of Wisconsin Madison, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute near Albany, New York. He received the Presidential Scholarship from Purdue University, a merit scholarship recognizing academic achievement, leadership, and service, which is awarded to only 830 students per year. Anderson says he has not yet made a decision as to which college he will attend.

He is involved in several scholastic extracurricular activities, including WYSE, Scholastic Bowl, Math Team, and National Honor Society. Anderson also competes on the cross country and track teams and plays saxophone in band. He recently completed his Eagle Scout Service Project, achieving the highest level award in Boy Scouts. Jacob also participates on a robotics team that won a world championship in St. Louis earlier this year.

“It takes more than just being smart to manage a workload like Jacob’s and consistently get good grades and test scores. It doesn’t happen that often,” said Collins.