Act score scale history

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      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 _____________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______| _______|_______|_______