AURORA | Reading has done a lot for Julian Cannon.

The senior from Overland High School credits his voracious reading habit with his recent success on the ACT test. He was one of two students in the Cherry Creek School District and one of 16 in the entire state to have earned a perfect score on the ACT test during the 2011-12 school year. While Cannon, 17, insists that he didn’t prepare for the exam, he explains that he can credit his success with good habits.

And those habits go deeper than a good study schedule.

“To be perfectly honest, I didn’t prepare for it at all. I really did not do much in the way of preparation work. I’ve never really been bothered by standardized tests,” said Cannon, who also scored 800 on the reading and math portions of the SAT and 670 on the writing portion. “My best advice to anyone who also wants to score better would be to read a lot. A lot of the things I learn I learned just picking them up in some random book I’m reading.”

Cannon, a senior at Overland, received a perfect score of 36 on the ACT test, otherwise known as the Colorado American College Test, during the previous school year. Along with the SAT standardized test, the ACT is a pivotal component of college applications for high schoolers across the nation. Eight students from the Cherry Creek district scored 36 on the ACT last during the 2010-11 school year.

The test includes four multiple choice subject portions covering English, mathematics, reading and science reasoning, as well as an optional writing segment. Colorado is one of only 14 states that offers the standardized test to all high school juniors. More than 1.6 million students took the ACT in 2011, according the Associated Press.

Cannon was the only student from Aurora’s two public school districts to ace the ACT test during the 2011-12 school year. Along with Cherry Creek High School student Tori Chen, 14 other high school students from Denver, Adams 12, Boulder Valley, Poudre, Littleton, Douglas County and charter schools also earned top scores on the exam. The Colorado Department of Education Board of Directors met with Cannon and the other 15 students during a formal recognition ceremony earlier this month.

The perfect score isn’t the first academic achievement for Cannon. The high school senior was named as a semifinalist in the 58th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program earlier this year, and he was one of five Overland students to qualify for the final round of the University of Northern Colorado Mathematics Contest that will be held in Greeley in January.

But Cannon insists that his extracurricular activities didn’t offer any kind of formal preparation for the ACT test.

“A lot of the contest math stuff is different than what you’d expect on the standardized test,” said Cannon, who grew up in Aurora. “It helped me to think about which option, if any, makes the most sense.”

Cannon may be casual about explaining his success on the test, but he’s already getting serious about his post-high school plans. Cannon said his top choice for college is CalTech in California, but he added that he’s already received offers for scholarships from in-state schools. Whatever his final academic destination, Cannon said he’s already decided on a direction for a future career.

“I’ve decided that I want to go into computer science for a career. I’m fascinated by (it); making machines that can learn to cooperate with each other,” Cannon said. “Wouldn’t it be grand if you could make your smart phone and your laptop get along?”

The question may be rhetorical, but Cannon is well on his way to finding an answer. Whether he answers those questions at a college in Colorado or California, Cannon’s casual acing of the ACT will offer a valuable bridge to taking the first steps.

Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707

A car averages 27 miles per gallon. If gas costs $4.04 per gallon, which of the following is closest to how much the gas would cost for this car to travel 2,727 typical miles?

A. $  44.44

B. $109.08

C. $118.80

D. $408.04

E. $444.40

When x = 3 and y = 5, by how much does the value of 3×2 – 2y exceed the value of 2×2 – 3y ?

A.   4

B. 14

C. 16

D. 20

E. 50

Sales for a business were 3 million dollars more the second year than the first, and sales for the third year were double the sales for the second year. If sales for the third year were 38 million dollars, what were sales, in millions of dollars, for the first year?

A. 16

B. 17.5

C. 20.5

D. 22

E. 35

D. B, A