American College Testing (ACT) score\1\ averages, by sex: 1967 to 1994

Table 130.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
        Type of test         |1967 |1970 |1975 |1980 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 ||1990\1\|1991\1\|1992\1\|1993\1\|1994\1\
_____________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____||_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
              1              |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  | 10  | 11  | 12  | 13  ||  14   |  15   |  16   |  17   |  18
_____________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____||_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
Participants:\2\             |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
  Total (in thousands) ......| 788 | 714 | 822 | 836 | 805 | 835 | 849 | 739 | 730 | 777 | 842 | 855 ||   817 |   796 |   832 |   876 |  892
                             |_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____||_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
                             |                              Test scores\3\                           ||                       |       |
                             |_______________________________________________________________________||_______________________|_______|_______
  Composite, total ..........|19.9 |18.6 |18.5 |18.5 |18.4 |18.3 |18.5 |18.6 |18.8 |18.7 |18.8 |18.6 ||  20.6 |  20.6 |  20.6 |  20.7 |  20.8
    Male ....................|20.3 |19.5 |19.3 |19.3 |19.2 |19.1 |19.3 |19.4 |19.6 |19.5 |19.6 |19.3 ||  21.0 |  20.9 |  20.9 |  21.0 |  20.9
    Female ..................|19.4 |17.8 |17.9 |17.8 |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
                             |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
English, total ..............|18.5 |17.7 |17.9 |17.8 |17.9 |17.8 |18.1 |18.1 |18.5 |18.4 |18.5 |18.4 ||  20.5 |  20.3 |  20.2 |  20.3 |  20.3
  Male ......................|17.6 |17.1 |17.3 |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
  Female ....................|19.4 |18.3 |18.3 |18.2 |18.4 |18.2 |18.6 |18.6 |18.9 |18.9 |19.0 |18.9 ||  20.9 |  20.7 |  20.6 |  20.6 |  20.7
                             |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
Math, total .................|20.0 |17.6 |17.4 |17.3 |17.2 |16.9 |17.3 |17.2 |17.3 |17.2 |17.2 |17.1 ||  19.9 |  20.0 |  20.0 |  20.1 |  20.2
  Male ......................|21.1 |19.3 |18.9 |18.9 |18.6 |18.4 |18.6 |18.6 |18.8 |18.6 |18.4 |18.3 ||  20.7 |  20.6 |  20.7 |  20.8 |  20.8
  Female ....................|18.8 |16.2 |16.2 |16.0 |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
                             |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
Social studies, total\4\ ....|19.7 |17.4 |17.2 |17.2 |17.3 |17.1 |17.3 |17.4 |17.6 |17.5 |17.4 |17.2 ||   --- |  21.2 |  21.1 |  21.2 |  21.2
  Male ......................|20.3 |18.7 |18.2 |18.3 |18.1 |18.0 |18.1 |18.3 |18.6 |18.4 |18.4 |18.1 ||   --- |  21.3 |  21.1 |  21.2 |  21.1
  Female ....................|19.0 |16.4 |16.4 |16.4 |16.6 |16.4 |16.5 |16.6 |16.9 |16.7 |16.6 |16.4 ||   --- |  21.1 |  21.1 |  21.2 |  21.4
                             |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
Natural science, total\5\ ...|20.8 |21.1 |21.1 |21.0 |20.8 |20.9 |21.0 |21.2 |21.4 |21.4 |21.4 |21.2 ||   --- |  20.7 |  20.7 |  20.8 |  20.9
  Male ......................|21.6 |22.4 |22.4 |22.3 |22.2 |22.4 |22.4 |22.6 |22.7 |22.8 |22.8 |22.6 ||   --- |  21.3 |  21.4 |  21.5 |  21.6
  Female ....................|20.0 |20.0 |20.0 |20.0 |19.7 |19.6 |19.9 |20.0 |20.2 |20.1 |20.2 |20.0 ||   --- |  20.1 |  20.1 |  20.3 |  20.4
                             |_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____||_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
                             |                                Percent                                ||
                             |_______________________________________________________________________||_______________________________________
Obtaining composite          |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
  scores of--                |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
26 or above\6\ ..............|  14 |  14 |  13 |  13 |  13 |  13 |  13 |  14 |  14 |  14 |  14 |  14 ||    12 |    11 |    12 |    12 |    13
15 or below\7\ ..............|  21 |  33 |  33 |  33 |  34 |  35 |  33 |  32 |  31 |  31 |  31 |  32 ||    35 |    35 |    35 |    35 |    34
                             |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
Planned major field of study |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     ||       |       |       |       |
  Business\8\ ...............|  18 |  21 |  20 |  19 |  19 |  18 |  19 |  21 |  22 |  23 |  23 |  22 ||    20 |    18 |    15 |    13 |    12
  Engineering\9\ ............|   8 |   6 |   8 |  10 |  11 |  10 |   9 |   9 |   9 |   8 |   9 |   9 ||     9 |    10 |    10 |     9 |     9
  Social science\10\ ........|  10 |   9 |   6 |   6 |   6 |   6 |   7 |   7 |   8 |   9 |  10 |  11 ||    10 |    10 |    10 |     9 |     9
  Education\11\ .............|  16 |  12 |   9 |   7 |   6 |   6 |   6 |   6 |   7 |   8 |   8 |   8 ||     8 |    10 |     5 |     8 |     8
_____________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____||_______|_______|_______|_______|_______

\1\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\Beginning in 1990, scores were 27 or above.
\7\As of 1990, scores were 18 or below.
\8\Includes political and persuasive (e.g., sales) fields through 1975; thereafter, business and commerce.
\9\ In 1993 and 1994, includes engineering and engineering related technologies.
\10\Includes religion through 1975.
\11\Includes education and teacher education.
---Not available.

SOURCE: The American College Testing program, High School Profile Report, annual. (This table prepared April 1995.)

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