Nate Nordwald, son of Matt and Rebecca Nordwald and a junior at Warrenton High School, recently earned the highest possible ACT composite score of 36.On average, only around one-tenth of 1 percent of students who take the ACT earn a top score.In the U.S. high school graduating Class of 2017, only 2,760 out of more than 2 million graduates who took the ACT earned a composite score of 36.Nordwald also took the ACT in December, scoring a 35 — but he did not at that time take the writing portion, which was required so that he could apply to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.He also is looking into engineering programs of University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Purdue, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, and MIT. He plans to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering.Despite scoring a 35 the first time, Nordwald admitted he wasn’t sure he had improved his score this time.“I felt very confident about the first two sections of the test (language arts and math), but was crunched on time on the last couple of sections (reading and science),” he said. “So I had mixed feelings about how I had done.”Nordwald is an active member of Warrior Nation and is involved in varsity track and cross country, the National Honor Society, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Link Crew.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.The score for ACT’s optional writing test is reported separately and is not included within the ACT composite score.The ACT is a curriculum-based achievement exam that measures what students have learned in school.Students who earn a 36 composite score have likely mastered all of the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in first-year college courses in the core subject areas.ACT scores are accepted by all major four-year colleges and universities across the U.S.

Nate Norwald, a junior at Warrenton High School, earned the highest possible ACT composite score of 36.

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