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Digest of Education Statistics
2003 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Issue of the Digest

Table 135. American College Testing (ACT) score averages and standard deviations, by sex: Selected years, 1995 to 2002

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
                           |               Number                 ||        Standard deviation
       Type of test        |______________________________________||_____________________________
                           |1995|1997|1998|1999 |2000 |2001 |2002 ||1997|1998|1999|2000|2001|2002 
___________________________|____|____|____|_____|_____|_____|_____||____|____|____|____|____|____
             1             | 2  | 3  | 4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  || 9  | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
___________________________|____|____|____|_____|_____|_____|_____||____|____|____|____|____|____
Participants:              |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
  Total (in thousands) ....| 945| 959| 995|1,019|1,065|1,070|1,116||  † |  † |  † |  † |  † |  †
                           |____|____|____|_____|_____|_____|_____||____|____|____|____|____|____
                           |           Average test score\1\      ||
                           |______________ _____ _________________||_______________________________
  Composite, total ........|20.8|21.0|21.0| 21.0| 21.0| 21.0| 20.8|| 4.7| 4.7| 4.7| 4.7| 4.7| 4.8
    Male ..................|21.0|21.1|21.2| 21.1| 21.2| 21.1| 20.9|| 4.9| 4.9| 4.9| 4.9| 4.9| 5.0
    Female ................|20.7|20.8|20.9| 20.9| 20.9| 20.9| 20.7|| 4.6| 4.6| 4.6| 4.6| 4.6| 4.7
                           |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
English, total ............|20.2|20.3|20.4| 20.5| 20.5| 20.5| 20.2|| 5.4| 5.4| 5.5| 5.5| 5.6| 5.8
  Male ....................|19.8|19.9|19.9| 20.0| 20.0| 20.0| 19.7|| 5.4| 5.4| 5.5| 5.6| 5.6| 5.8
  Female ..................|20.6|20.7|20.8| 20.9| 20.9| 20.8| 20.6|| 5.4| 5.4| 5.5| 5.5| 5.6| 5.7
                           |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
Mathematics, total ........|20.2|20.6|20.8| 20.7| 20.7| 20.7| 20.6|| 5.0| 5.1| 5.0| 5.0| 5.0| 5.0
  Male ....................|20.9|21.3|21.5| 21.4| 21.4| 21.4| 21.2|| 5.2| 5.3| 5.2| 5.2| 5.2| 5.3
  Female ..................|19.7|20.1|20.2| 20.2| 20.2| 20.2| 20.1|| 4.7| 4.8| 4.7| 4.8| 4.7| 4.8
                           |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
Reading, total ............|21.3|21.3|21.4| 21.4| 21.4| 21.3| 21.1|| 6.1| 6.0| 6.0| 6.1| 6.0| 6.1
  Male ....................|21.1|21.2|21.1| 21.1| 21.2| 21.1| 20.9|| 6.1| 6.2| 6.1| 6.1| 6.1| 6.3
  Female ..................|21.4|21.5|21.6| 21.6| 21.5| 21.5| 21.3|| 6.0| 5.9| 5.9| 6.0| 6.0| 6.1
                           |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
Science reasoning, total ..|21.0|21.1|21.1| 21.0| 21.0| 21.0| 20.8|| 4.7| 4.6| 4.5| 4.5| 4.6| 4.6
  Male ....................|21.6|21.7|21.8| 21.5| 21.6| 21.6| 21.3|| 4.9| 4.9| 4.8| 4.8| 4.9| 4.9
  Female ..................|20.5|20.6|20.6| 20.6| 20.6| 20.6| 20.4|| 4.4| 4.3| 4.2| 4.3| 4.3| 4.3
                           |____|____|____|_____|_____|_____|_____||____|____|____|____|____|____
                           |                 Percent              || 
                           |__________________________ _____ _____||____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Obtaining composite        |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
  scores of--              |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
27 or above\2\.............|  12|  10|  10|   10|   10|   10|   10||  † |  † |  † |  † |  † |  †
18 or below\3\.............|  35|  26|  25|   25|   25|   25|   27||  † |  † |  † |  † |  † |  †
                           |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
Planned major field of     |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
  of study                 |    |    |    |     |     |     |     ||    |    |    |    |    |
  Business\4\ .............|  13|  12|  12|   12|   11|   11|   10||  † |  † |  † |  † |  † |  †
  Engineering\5\ ..........|   8|   8|   8|    8|    8|    7|    7||  † |  † |  † |  † |  † |  †
  Social science\6\ .......|   9|   9|   9|    9|    9|    9|    8||  † |  † |  † |  † |  † |  †
  Education\7\ ............|   8|   9|   9|    9|    9|    8|    8||  † |  † |  † |  † |  † |  †
___________________________|____|____|____|_____|_____|_____|_____||____|____|____|____|____|____

† Not applicable.
\1\Minimum score, 1; maximum score, 36.
\2\Beginning in 1997, data are for scores of 28 or higher.
\3\Beginning in 1997, data are for scores of 17 or lower.
\4\Includes business and management, business and office, and marketing and distribution.
\5\Includes engineering and engineering-related technologies.
\6\Includes social science and philosophy, religion, and theology.
\7\Includes education and teacher education.

SOURCE: The American College Testing program, High School Profile Report, selected years 1995 through 2002. (This table was prepared June 2003.)


2003 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Issue of the Digest
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