Area teen gets top score of 36 on ACT exam

The McDonald senior still considers himself ordinary.

BY JORDAN COHEN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

MCDONALD — Adam Tura does not believe there is anything unusual about him.

“I’m pretty basic,” the 17-year old McDonald High senior said. “I hang out with friends, go to the mall, see movies and do the usual things. I don’t think there’s anything outstanding about me.”

What Tura accomplished this year, however, is extraordinary, and the statistics prove it.

He earned the top composite score of 36 in the ACT examinations that he took along with 250,000 students across America last September; in fact, he was the only student in Ohio to accomplish the feat. Just 51 others in the nation taking the test at that time scored at the top with Tura.

“It’s very, very amazing,” said Nancy Owen, media relations spokesperson for ACT. “You have to consider that the number of students achieving top scores amounts to 0.001 of 1 percent.

“Scores like his show that the student has a mastery of the various subjects and is ready for college work,” Owen said.

Tura is already taking college-level courses while still in high school. He travels to Youngstown State University several days each week to study freshman English, anthropology and government.

The top score does not mean Tura answered every question correctly. His scores were 36 in math and reading and 35 in English and science, but his composite score placed him at the top.

“That’s why we call it a ‘top score’ not a ‘perfect score,’” Owen said.

“I don’t know what happened in English and science,” Tura said. “I’d like to know what I missed, but they don’t tell you.”

Tura, the son of Kellie Strang, of McDonald, and Vince Tura, of Canfield, has two sisters and three brothers. He has been earning straight A’s in school for as long as he can remember. He did not see that as unusual at first.

“When I got to the eighth grade, I noticed a drop-off between other students’ grades and mine, and I realized that something was different,” he said.

Tura has already been accepted to the Ohio State University, where he plans to major in biological sciences. What he would like to accomplish sounds like a script from the old television show “Six Million Dollar Man.”

“I would like to develop mechanical parts to replace those parts that wear out in the human body,” Tura said. “It’s called biorobotics, and that’s where my interest is.”

Tura, who had taken the ACTs previously, said that before his last effort, he studied a test preparation book and worked on “every exercise front to back.” Understandably, he is constantly asked by classmates for advice on taking the examinations, and his reply is not what might be expected.

“I tell them if they’re taking it for the first time to go with their basic knowledge and not use a test book because then you have a personal gauge of your knowledge. Then study the test guides before you take the ACTs again.”

One of his brothers followed his advice, according to Tura, and scored a 22 on his first try. According to the ACT Web site, the national average composite score is 21.1.

“He’s going to use a test guide like I did the next time,” Tura said.

He does not believe that the test score has changed his life, adding that his friends still treat him the same way. However, he admitted they tease him if he makes a mistake.

“I think there’s more of an expectation for me to be able to help them with their issues,” Tura said. “The answers come to me eventually.”

The senior is also active in athletics and is a member of McDonald’s track and bowling teams. His approach to sports is the same as in his studies, meaning he sets his standards as high as they can go.

“The last score I bowled was a 170 last February, and that’s kind of low,” Tura said.

“I have to work on that.”