Shock, excitement, and disbelief.
That was Rajadhar Reddy's response to the test results he received after taking the ACT.
The 16-year-old high school junior from Science Academy in Mercedes had been preparing rigorously for another college entrance exam, the SAT, but decided to take the ACT for the first time on a whim.
"By that time I had already taken three SAT tests, I had already taken a whole bunch of SAT prep classes with Mr. Keillor,” said Reddy. “But I hadn't really done anything for the ACT yet. I just thought I would go ahead and wing it, just because."
And by just “winging it,” Reddy didn't realize that he had blown the test out of the water.
He waited for the results to come in via email for weeks.
But one day in January, he received the surprise of his life.
"I just logged on real quick and the email was there,” said Reddy. “It said ‘your score results are ready.’ So I kind of freaked out a little bit, and I clicked it."
And the score was perfect: 36 out of 36.
He scored flawlessly in English, math, reading, science, and writing.
In Texas, just over 110,000 students took the ACT, and only 64 earned a perfect score.
The advice Reddy gives to other students taking the test is simple.
"Practice,” said Reddy. “Practice, practice, practice. If you do Mr. Keillor's course, if you do another online SAT prep course, even if you just get a prep book and just do practice tests at home. More than any other weird tip or weird strategy, the most important thing is to just keep practicing."
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