Shreesh Prasad, 16, a senior at Advanced Technologies Academy, is the only Nevada student to get a perfect score of 36 on his ACT this year. He wants to become a prosecuting attorney. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

When Shreesh Prasad walked out of his ACT exam in October, he had a swagger similar to Babe Ruth when he pointed to the stands before slugging a home run in the 1932 World Series.

The 16-year-old high school senior at the Advanced Technologies Academy in Las Vegas was confident he had done the unthinkable -- turned in a perfect college-entrance exam.

"I had a good idea of what all the answers were," Prasad said. "I thought I got a perfect score."

Prasad's intuition, just like his answers on the ACT, proved correct. He was the only Nevada student who took the exam in October to score a perfect 36. Only 11 Silver State students in the past five years have earned perfect scores on the exam.

Prasad's feat places him in the top 1 percent of high school test takers in the country. About 2 million students take the exam each year.

Prasad's ACT score and 4.6 weighted GPA have him on firm footing to land at one of his top three choices for college come fall: Harvard, Princeton or Georgetown. He wants to major in political science and has aspirations of becoming a prosecuting attorney.

Prasad, the son of two doctors, acknowledges he's smart. But, he said, he's a down-to-earth, relaxed guy. He said news of his perfect ACT score got him a little more recognition at school, but none of the hurtful taunting that typically is dealt out to overachievers by their teenage peers.

"People who don't know me probably think I'm a nerd. ... But my friends, they don't make a big deal about it," the soft-spoken Prasad said. "A-Tech's a good school to be smart at. People don't hold it against you."

Prasad also scored a near perfect 2,360 -- out of 2,400 -- on the SAT.

He said he studies and does homework about six hours a week. He studied ACT and SAT workbooks four hours a week in the two weeks prior to taking both exams.

When Prasad isn't in school, he likes hanging out with his friends and playing poker on Friday nights. He also enjoys playing tennis, going to movies and doing other typical teenage things such as surfing the Internet.

Prasad was born in Saudi Arabia and lived in India and England before the age of 5, when his family moved to Las Vegas. He is younger than most high school seniors because he began his academic career before most American students do. He was enrolled in kindergarten at age 4 in England.

Prasad's mother, Leela, who has a private practice in internal medicine in Las Vegas, said education always played a big role in her family. Prasad's father, Keshava, is working on an oncology fellowship in Arkansas.

Leela Prasad said her son never was pressured to be a doctor, even though that is what she and her husband do for a living. Leela's daughter, Chaithra, is a second-year medical student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"He's got his mind made up," Leela Prasad said of her son's desire to be a lawyer. "We are with him with whatever he wants to do."

Ed Colby, a spokesman with ACT, based in Iowa City, Iowa, said high ACT scores are a good indication that a student will be successful in college because the exam is based on high school curriculums. Colby said another indication of college success is the number of advanced placement courses a student takes in high school.

"A student who takes challenging courses in high school is likely to be better prepared for the ACT and college course work," Colby said.

Shreesh Prasad has taken upper-level courses in calculus, U.S. government, English and biology.

Colby said a student who scores a perfect 36 on the ACT probably will succeed at any college in the United States.

"That score suggests that a student has mastered everything."

Even at 16, Prasad said he's prepared to handle all the academic rigors college throws his way. But he's more concerned about the mundane aspects of college life, such as eating healthy.

"The junk food scares me. ... Too much pizza."

Leela Prasad said she'll miss many things when her son goes away to college, even nagging him each day to make his bed.

The teen said having his bed in disarray will be a welcoming change. "I look forward to that," he said.