Ryan Kim didn't want to put off taking the ACT until the end of his high school education.
So he spent a little more than a month before entering Fayetteville High School last fall preparing for the college entrance exam. He took the ACT in September.
The 14-year-old became the fifth Fayetteville High School student in five years to earn the highest possible score of 36 on the exam, said Alan Wilbourn, district spokesman. Kim is the first Fayetteville High School sophomore to achieve a perfect score since at least 1992.
"It's really a big relief," Kim said.
Fewer than 1 percent of students nationally who take the ACT earn a 36 composite score, said Ed Colby, ACT spokesman. Last year, nine Arkansas students in the class of 2014 earned a 36 among 26,821 in the class who took the test.
The ACT consists of four multiple-choice tests in English, mathematics, reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1 to 36. The composite score is the average of the four test scores, so it is possible for students to achieve a 36 without making the top score on each portion.
Kim's score was derived from a 36 on the math and reading sections and a 35 on both the science and English sections.
Kim credited his teachers with providing him with the foundation of knowledge necessary to perform well on the exam and for encouraging him to read from different subjects. He prepared for the exam by taking practice tests and reviewing his mistakes.
The most challenging part of the exam was the science portion, not because of the content, but because the science portion involves reading passages and using logic to answer the questions. Kim had to watch the time to avoid spending too much time on any one question, he said.
On the day of the test, Kim said he tried not to feel nervous and to be confident.
Jin-Woo Kim, Ryan's father, described his son as academically self-motivated. While he and wife Hee-Jeung Kim are proud of their son's academic achievements, they also emphasize to him the importance of growing to be a good person, Jin-Woo Kim said. Jin-Woo Kim is a professor of biological engineering at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Hee-Jeung Kim said her son has played piano since second grade and has participated in Boy Scouts since kindergarten. Ryan Kim is a patrol leader for Boy Scout Troop 116 and is pursuing an Eagle Scout rank.
He has been involved in math competitions since seventh grade and has competed at the state and national level.
Last year, as a ninth-grader at Woodland Junior High School, Ryan Kim was team captain of an academic Quiz Bowl team that won the Junior National Academic Championship in Chicago. Ryan Kim also finished with the highest individual score in the national championship, earning a National MVP award at the event.
Quiz Bowl is a team competition that requires students to have knowledge of variety of subjects, including history, literature, science, fine arts, current events, sports and popular culture.
"Ryan is very precise and very logical," Hee-Jeung Kim said.
Despite his academic achievements, his parents were surprised by his ACT score, they said. The Kims spent more than a month of the summer visiting family in Korea, so Ryan didn't start preparing for the ACT until July.
When school started, he had to balance test preparation with studies in five advanced classes, she said.
Even though he has checked off the ACT from his to-do list in high school, Kim looks forward to the rest of his high school education. He looks forward to taking classes in biology and world history and has discovered an interest writing poetry.
"I want to experience as much new knowledge as I can," he said. "It keeps my mind stimulated."
NW News on 02/16/2015