Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A student from East Jessamine High School and a student from West Jessamine High School recently received news of their perfect ACT scores. 

Junior Elliot Hunt from EJHS and Junior Conall Sharp received a 36 on their ACT exams. 

The ACT is an exam used by most colleges and universities to make admission decisions. It is a multiple-choice, pencil-and-paper test, including reading, math, English, and science, with an optional writing portion of the exam. Science is also optional as of April 2025. This test is intense at a time limit of 2 hours and 55 minutes, with each subject times individually. According to the Princeton Review, the average ACT score is 21. 

Junior Elliot Hunt prepared for the exam by taking it as a sophomore and using the College Equipped Readiness Tool (CERT) and its test prep videos. “I went through and watched pretty much all of them and took notes on them. Because of that, I got a 35 [as a sophomore],” Hunt said.” I remembered that knowledge plus my math and English teachers, Mr. Schommer and Ms. Bushnell went over ACT stuff, so the prior knowledge combined with that extra practice got me the 36 this year.”

Hunt’s favorite subject is math, and he said reading was the most challenging part of the test. “I got 36 in all of the categories and a 35 in English, but I personally thought reading was going to be the most difficult because it’s about reading comprehension.” Hunt added that he had taken AP Language last year and English 100 and 200 this year, which are more focused on writing and grammar, so he thought reading would be his toughest subject. Still, he got a 36 in reading.

“I felt great when I found out; one of my friends in my group chat [sent] their score, and I don’t remember exactly what it was, but they said, ‘I bet Elliot got a 36,’ and then I went to go check my score, I saw it and instantly took a picture of it and sent it and said ‘yup.’ But I was very happy to receive that score. I was very excited about it,” he said. 

Hunt aims to go into Information Technology to help people with computer systems. 

“My overall goal is to make enough money to spend money on my hobbies and things I enjoy doing, and not focus completely on work. I want to be able to live,” he said.

Junior Conall Sharp took the ACT four times before taking it as a Junior and receiving a 36. He believes having that experience of taking the test and getting the timing down led him to the highest score possible on the test. “Because once you get the timing and know how to portion your timing correctly, then the questions kind of follow right after that. Especially after taking the ACT a couple of times, I found the areas I need to focus on going into the next test. It’s all about knowing your strengths and weaknesses and being prepared for it,” Sharp said.

Sharp received a score of 30 his freshman year and a 35 in December 2024. “Maybe the writing was on the wall, but I was still super surprised that I even got a 36.”

“All my high school teachers gave me amazing support as I went through all my classes learning the basics. My parents offered me support. I did a bunch of study groups with my friends as well, so sharing in that was super fun,” Sharp said.

Math is Sharp’s favorite subject, and English was his most challenging subject on the ACT. “It’s so many questions, and if you even forget one of your grammar rules, that’s still like five questions on the test, and it can end up taking a big hit on your score. English was the most challenging and behind that was science because it can be especially difficult to interpret some of the data and the graphs you’re seeing.”

When Sharp received news of his perfect score, he was “thrilled! It was amazing. I was just sitting in my room and called my parents down and said, ‘hey, look at this.’ And they started freaking out as well.”

Sharp plays for the West Jessamine High Football team as a tight end, a defensive end, and sometimes as a linebacker. Sharp said he’s been “looking at some Ivy Leagues” for his future. “Especially with football, I love playing football. I’m going to a couple of camps over the summer just trying to get some attention, maybe go through a couple of tours while we’re up near Maryland, see what I can get into, and take a stab at it.”

Sharp has some advice for students who still need to take the exam. “The big thing is, I’d say keep at it. You can’t really get discouraged. The ACT can seem kind of scary. It’s the first test you take in high school that’s like, ‘Hey, this has some meaning outside of this place,’ we’re not doing this to get a grade that our teachers will see. We’re doing it for potential colleges and things way down the road. It can pile up, and it can be super stressful, but I’d say take a step back, and take one step at a time. Just keep at it.”