Less than one percent of students who take the ACT, a major standardized test, earn a perfect score. Five of these students are at Dunbar. CJ Labianca, David Ma, Ananth Miller-Murthy, Nisarg Patil and Ben Xie explained the effort behind their perfect scores.

“Sleep, bring a snack, and don’t freak out during the test,” said junior David Ma.

To get a perfect score on the test, students can only miss up to two questions in any section. The English section consists of 5 passages of text, 75 multiple-choice questions and a time limit of 45 minutes.

Senior Nisarg Patil said, “On English, you’re going to want to actually read through the passages because a lot of times there’s important stuff that you might miss if you’re just skipping from question to question.”

Due to the strict time limit, many students struggle with finishing their Reading section.

“There are tricks to taking Reading,” said senior Ben Xie. “It’s not a test where you have to read every word.”

There are 60 multiple choice questions in the math section with a 60 minute time limit. In the science section, students are given 35 multiple choice questions to answer within 40 minutes.

Senior Ananth Miller-Murthy made a plan to take a certain number of practice tests each month. He said that constant practice helped him to achieve his perfect score in December.

“Starting early may be the key to getting the perfect 36,” he said.

Senior CJ Labianca agreed.

“Try to get started with practicing early because the ACT is not a lot about what you know; it’s about how well you can take what you know and put it into the testing environment,” he said.