| Table 135. - | American College Testing (ACT) score\1\ averages, by sex: 1970 to 1997 |
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Type of test |1970 |1975 |1980 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997
_____________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______| _______|_______|_______
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19
_____________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______| _______|_______|_______
Participants:\2\ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Total (in thousands) ......| 714 | 822 | 836 | 835 | 849 | 739 | 730 | 777 | 842 | 855 | 817 | 796 | 832 | 876 | 892 | 945 | 924 | 959
|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______| _______|_______|_______
| Test\3\
|___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Composite, total ..........|18.6 |18.5 |18.5 |18.3 |18.5 |18.6 |18.8 |18.7 |18.8 |18.6 | 20.6 | 20.6 | 20.6 | 20.7 | 20.8 | 20.8 | 20.9 | 21.0
Male ....................|19.5 |19.3 |19.3 |19.1 |19.3 |19.4 |19.6 |19.5 |19.6 |19.3 | 21.0 | 20.9 | 20.9 | 21.0 | 20.9 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.1
Female ..................|17.8 |17.9 |17.8 |17.6 |17.9 |17.9 |18.1 |18.1 |18.1 |18.0 | 20.3 | 20.4 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 20.7 | 20.7 | 20.8 | 20.8
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
English, total ..............|17.7 |17.9 |17.8 |17.8 |18.1 |18.1 |18.5 |18.4 |18.5 |18.4 | 20.5 | 20.3 | 20.2 | 20.3 | 20.3 | 20.2 | 20.3 | 20.3
Male ......................|17.1 |17.3 |17.3 |17.3 |17.5 |17.6 |17.9 |17.9 |18.0 |17.8 | 20.1 | 19.8 | 19.8 | 19.8 | 19.8 | 19.8 | 19.8 | 19.9
Female ....................|18.3 |18.3 |18.2 |18.2 |18.6 |18.6 |18.9 |18.9 |19.0 |18.9 | 20.9 | 20.7 | 20.6 | 20.6 | 20.7 | 20.6 | 20.7 | 20.7
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Math, total .................|17.6 |17.4 |17.3 |16.9 |17.3 |17.2 |17.3 |17.2 |17.2 |17.1 | 19.9 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 20.1 | 20.2 | 20.2 | 20.2 | 20.6
Male ......................|19.3 |18.9 |18.9 |18.4 |18.6 |18.6 |18.8 |18.6 |18.4 |18.3 | 20.7 | 20.6 | 20.7 | 20.8 | 20.8 | 20.9 | 20.9 | 21.3
Female ....................|16.2 |16.2 |16.0 |15.7 |16.1 |16.0 |16.0 |16.1 |16.1 |16.1 | 19.3 | 19.4 | 19.5 | 19.6 | 19.6 | 19.7 | 19.7 | 20.1
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Social studies, total\4\ ....|17.4 |17.2 |17.2 |17.1 |17.3 |17.4 |17.6 |17.5 |17.4 |17.2 | --- | 21.2 | 21.1 | 21.2 | 21.2 | 21.3 | 21.3 | 21.3
Male ......................|18.7 |18.2 |18.3 |18.0 |18.1 |18.3 |18.6 |18.4 |18.4 |18.1 | --- | 21.3 | 21.1 | 21.2 | 21.1 | 21.1 | 21.0 | 21.2
Female ....................|16.4 |16.4 |16.4 |16.4 |16.5 |16.6 |16.9 |16.7 |16.6 |16.4 | --- | 21.1 | 21.1 | 21.2 | 21.4 | 21.4 | 21.6 | 21.5
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Natural science, total\5\ ...|21.1 |21.1 |21.0 |20.9 |21.0 |21.2 |21.4 |21.4 |21.4 |21.2 | --- | 20.7 | 20.7 | 20.8 | 20.9 | 21.0 | 21.1 | 21.1
Male ......................|22.4 |22.4 |22.3 |22.4 |22.4 |22.6 |22.7 |22.8 |22.8 |22.6 | --- | 21.3 | 21.4 | 21.5 | 21.6 | 21.6 | 21.7 | 21.7
Female ....................|20.0 |20.0 |20.0 |19.6 |19.9 |20.0 |20.2 |20.1 |20.2 |20.0 | --- | 20.1 | 20.1 | 20.3 | 20.4 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 20.6
|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______| _______|_______|_______
| Percent
|____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Obtaining composite | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
scores of-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
28 or above ...............| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 10
17 or below ...............| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 26
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Planned major field of study | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Business\6\ ...............| 21 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13
Engineering\7\ ............| 6 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9
Social science\8\ .........| 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9
Education\9\ ..............| 12 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 11
_____________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______| _______|_______|_______
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\1\Test scores for 1990 and later data are not comparable with previous years because a new version of the ACT was introduced. Estimated
average composite scores for the new version for prior years were: 1989, 20.6; 1988, 1987, and 1986, 20.8; and 1982, 20.3.
\2\Beginning in 1985, data are for seniors who graduated in year shown and had taken the ACT in their junior or senior years. \3\Minimum score, 1; maximum score, 36. \4\Beginning in 1990, the test was changed to "reading." \5\Beginning in 1990, the test was changed to "science reasoning." \6\Includes political and persuasive (e.g., sales) fields through 1975; thereafter, business and commerce. \7\Beginning in 1993, includes engineering and engineering related technologies. \8\Includes religion through 1975. \9\Includes education and teacher education. ---Data not available. SOURCE: The American College Testing program, High School Profile Report, annual. (This table was prepared July 1998.) |
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