SPHS junior scores 36 on ACT

Spain Park High School junior Josh Taggart scored a 30 on his ACT as a Berry Middle School eighth-grader. He then decided to give it several more shots.

“I had a feeling I could go higher,” Taggart said.

Taggart, the middle of three children, took the test again in ninth-grade – scoring a 31. Still not complacent, he took the test again this past December, and just found out he scored a composite 36.

He said he wanted to give the ACT one more shot because he knew in 11th grade, he would have learned most of the concepts/objectives tested on the exam. That conjecture landed him those critical five additional points.

“We are challenged at this school, and that’s a good thing,” Taggart said.  “I don’t want a high school you can just breeze through.”

Taggart takes numerous Advanced Placement (AP) courses and is a member of several honor societies and school academic teams. He’s also a striker for the Spain Park High School soccer team.   

Taggart is the latest in a string of 36s across Hoover City Schools. Hoover High School senior Sunny Thodupunuri scored a 36 on his ACT this year. Also, a set of twins at Spain Park scored 36s on the ACT exam in 2013.

Nationally, while the actual number of students earning a composite score of 36 varies from year to year, on average, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of students who take the ACT earns the top score. Among test takers in the high school graduating class of 2013, only 1,162 of 1.8 million students earned a composite score of 36.