in that IB English class he got a C+ in that would have helped him on the ACT test. They read weird books like "Perfume"...a story where a psycho cuts up women's bodies and makes perfume from them...and wrote a couple essays for which nobody got an A regardless of the effort.

He could have been in a regular honors English class getting an A and spending 10x the amount of time taking ACT practice tests.

Live and learn.