Meet the Michigan high school junior who scored a perfect 36 on the ACT

GRAND LEDGE, Mich. – Cooper Evans reluctantly left a Christmas party early to get some sleep. He knew ACT testing time would come bright and early the next morning.

The Michigan high school junior awoke on that cold December day to get to Lansing Christian School by 8 a.m. He had been dreading the test all week.

“That’s not how I want to spend my Saturday morning,” Evans said.

Evans flipped through the pages of an ACT prep book to get ready but otherwise relied on what he learned in his courses at Grand Ledge High School.

To say it went well is an understatement: He scored a 36, the highest possible composite score, a feat achieved by less than one-half of 1% of students who take the test.

Of 2019 high school graduates, 4,879 out of nearly 1.8 million students who took the ACT scored a composite 36, according to an ACT news release. The test includes four sections – English, mathematics, reading and science – and each is scored on a scale of up to 36. The total composite score is the average of the four tests.

Evans was shocked when he went online to look at the results.

He showed his mom the score. They screamed, yelled and hugged once they realized it wasn’t a typo. It was real.

“I became a high school counselor in 2004, and I’ve never counseled somebody with his academic ability,” said Eddie Saade, who got to know Evans when he came over as a seventh grader to take high school algebra. By eighth grade, Evans was taking high school biology, English and accelerated algebra. By ninth grade, Evans was already in pre-calculus, Saade said.

Evans is a near perfect student, said Courtney Lutz, his AP biology teacher. She first had him in class when Evans came to the high school as an eighth grader from Hayes Middle School for her ninth grade biology class.

Not only was Evans the youngest student in the class but he outperformed his older peers, Lutz said.

“He was the most engaged, curious and interested student and therefore a joy to have in class,” she said.

Teachers helped him stay ahead in all of his classes. He put a little extra focus on courses that would be relevant to ACT success, he said.

Evans didn’t have to take the ACT. State law requires high school students take the SAT test, moving from the formerly required ACT in 2016. He opted to take the extra test, so he would have another test score for prospective colleges to consider once he starts applying.

He doesn’t know where he wants to go to college, but he probably will study engineering. Evans likes the idea of creating useful things for people.

And he likes the math. It’s his favorite subject.

“I like the straightforward aspect of it,” Evans said. “In English, it’s more subjective and not as definite as math. I understand the definite aspect of it more.”

Sitting in class with older students and studying a difficult subject brings him out of his comfort zone. He enjoys math’s practicality and seeing the real-world applications it brings, he said.

At a first grade conference with his teacher, Evans asked for harder math, so they moved him ahead a year, said his mother, Marisa. From there, he stayed a grade ahead in many of his studies, she said.

“I think it’s his character and also the environment that he has been in growing up and his schools and always having teachers that supported him,” she said.

His parents don’t try to push him, Marisa Evans said. He pushes himself.

“What makes Cooper successful as a student is his insatiable curiosity, which fuels his desire to understand the world deeply through the lens of math and science,” Lutz said. “He truly enjoys learning and is invigorated by the challenge, not intimidated by it.”

Follow Mark Johnson on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: ACT score: Michigan high school junior earns perfect 36 on ACT test