Indian Springs senior Ken Jiao ‘18 earned a perfect 36 on the ACT college readiness assessment on Sept. 9, his first time to take the test.
The odds of achieving a perfect 36 on the ACT are extremely low. In the 2017 graduating class, a total of 2,030,038 graduates took the test nationally, and only 2,760 earned a 36. That’s 0.14 percent, or around one-tenth of 1 percent, according to data from ACT.
The ACT includes tests in English, math, reading, and science as a way to measure what students have learned in high school. Each test is scored on a scale of 1-36, and a student’s composite score is the average of the four test scores. An Indian Springs student last earned a 36 in April 2016.
Before the assessment, Jiao spent several weeks reviewing questions from previous year’s tests. He felt well prepared before the assessment, and confident in his performance afterwards.
On the morning he received his scores, he was busy preparing for another test at Springs. He waited until later in the day to share the news with his parents, both researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who were very happy with his accomplishment.
In addition to earning a perfect 36 on the ACT, Jiao was recently named a National Finalist in the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology for his research project, entitled “Retain CHD7, an Epigenetic Regulator, in the Nucleus to Combat Breast Cancer Metastasis.”
Jiao’s research sheds light on a potential way to determine if breast cancer cells are highly invasive, and how to inhibit them from spreading throughout the body—a topic he became invested in several years ago when his mother experienced a breast cancer scare.
Jiao hopes to continue doing research in college. His goal is to become a physician-scientist so that he will have the opportunity to interact directly with patients.
As a student at Springs, Jiao has served as Commissioner of Education and has participated in the Science Olympiad, Chess Club, and Cross Country Team.
Congratulations, Ken!