Table 130. | American College Testing (ACT) score\1\ averages, by sex: 1967 to 1994 |
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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. SOURCE: The American College Testing program, High School Profile Report, annual. (This table prepared April 1995.) |