BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Third time was a charm for Justin Osborn, 17, of Clarkston.
After two tries, the senior at Clarkston High School earned the highest possible composite score on his ACT, 36 out of 36.
“I was feeling good coming out of it,” said Osborn, son of Scott and Catherine Osborn. “I was expecting a 35, not a 36.”
He found AP English provided good preparation for the test.
“Definitely, my teachers helped my reading comprehension,” he said. “The ACT is really a reading test, really close reading of what you need to know, really quickly, so you have time to go back and check your answers.”
He took the test as a 10th grader and again in his junior year.
“I did pretty well the first couple times,” he said.
He took the test the third time with his sister, Allison, 14, who was taking it for the first time.
“Mom made me go,” Justin said.
“I didn’t do as well, but I’ll take it again,” Allison said.
According to ACT Chief Executive Officer Marten Roorda, less than one tenth of one percent of students who take the ACT earn a top score. In the U.S. high school graduating class of 2016, only 2,235 out of nearly 2.1 million graduates who took the ACT earned a composite score of 36.
The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading, and science, each scored on a scale of 1-36. A student’s composite score is the average of the four test scores.
ACT-taking tips from Justin include don’t stress out, know what you’re going into, be prepared; you don’t have to necessarily study, but you have to know what you’re doing; be prepared for a long test with a lot of reading; and know you have to do a lot quickly, and be able to understand what they’re asking.
Justin is a four-year Varsity member of the Clarkston High School Ski Team, Pinnacle Ski Racing Team member, Eagle Scout, four-time winner of the Clarkston Foundation Math and Science awards, National Merit Scholarship qualifier, and National Honor Society member.
He’s looking to study engineering after graduation, and is considering schools like Cornell, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford.
“Maybe I have a shot,” he said.
Several family members are in automotive engineering, so he might look into something different, he said.
“Maybe rockets. That would be cool,” he said.