Lemont sisters Nora and Molly Thornber get perfect ACT scores 3 years apart

LEMONT, Ill. (WLS) -- Two Lemont sisters have aced the ACT, scoring a perfect 36.

Molly and Nora Thornber achieved the American College Testing (or ACT) feat three years apart.

"Honestly I just took one because I wanted to see how it would go," said Molly, who is now a sophomore at Michigan State University.

Molly took the test in 2021, during the depths of the COVID pandemic, as a sort of college exam barometer.

"I came out of there and said 'I don't think I did my best. I feel like I missed a lot of questions,'" she recalled.

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Spoiler alert: She didn't. She thought the email with her score was a formality, a kind of "this is how the scores work" explainer.

"It turned out that that was actually my score and I did get a 36," she said.

Three years later, and perhaps a bit of pressure later, Nora had the same reaction reading her ACT results.

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"I did want to do as well as her and be able to also have that," she said. "Just for some reason was like 'No, that's not it.' I just refreshed it and it stayed the same."

So what ACT tips can these wise, sage, statistical ace sisters offer?

"Honestly, don't put too much weight onto it. At the end of the day, the ACT is a standardized test," said Nora.

"It doesn't tell them how smart you are, how motivated you are, how willing to try to figure things out you are. It just tells them if you're good at filling in the right bubble," Molly said.