National test average increases

High school students did better on the ACT in 2004 than they did in the previous year, raising the national average by one-tenth of a point to 20.9 out of 36, according to a recent study by ACT Inc., the group that administers the test. \nAlthough the college prep test and its SAT counterpart play a role in admission to Indiana University, Admissions Officer Mary Ellen Anderson said scores from neither test are the deciding factor in gaining admission.\n"We look much more carefully at course work in high school and how it applies to the student's major than test scores," Anderson said.\nAccording to the Office of Admissions' Web site, the students who entered IU in the fall of 2003 had an average ACT score of 24.\nAnderson said IU accepts scores from both the ACT and SAT tests, and she encourages prospective students to take both tests because they are constructed differently. However, each test is popular in different states.\n"Indiana is, for the most part, an SAT state," Anderson said, "which is interesting because, for the most part, the states surrounding us are ACT states."\nFreshman Jonathan Klein of Wayne, N.J., said he simply took the SAT because that's the test everyone around him was taking. \n"It's a regional difference," said Klein's father, Robert, as they shopped for textbooks in the Indiana Memorial Union. "In New Jersey, the guidance counselors don't provide information about the ACT."\nThe ACT's Web site lists only 6 percent of high school graduates in New Jersey as ACT test-takers.\nAnderson said the Office of Admissions doesn't weigh the tests too heavily because they are not looking for a specific score but at the overall ability of the student. Anderson said in some circumstances the student could have high grades and taken full advantage of the curriculum his high school offered but may be a poor test-taker.\n"I don't think (the ACT) was a fair judge of academic ability," said freshman Devon Goudge. \nGoudge said she did worse on the test than some of her friends who she normally did better than in class and vice versa.\n"My scores and my friends' scores were all over the place," she said.\nThe study also mentioned that while men tended to score higher on the math and science portions, women scored higher on the English and reading portions.\nFreshman Hollie Savitt said she chose to take the ACT because the subjects emphasized on that test are different from the SAT. \n"I actually thought it was really easy," she said.