Gender Differences in Test Scores on the ACT College Entrance Examination

The American College Testing Program recently released the results for 2014 high school graduating seniors who took the ACT college entrance examination. The ACT test is graded on a scale of 1 to 36. The average score for women who took the test was 20.9. For men, the average score was 21.1. The average scores and the small gender gap in test scores have remained relatively constant over the past decade with only minor fluctuations.

Women held an edge on the English part of the test with an average score of 20.7 compared to a 20.0 average score for men. Women held a slight edge in reading scores. In mathematics men had an average score that was nearly a full point higher than the average score for women. In science, the average score for men was 21.2 compared to an average score for women of 20.5

Some 66 percent of all women ACT test takers were rated as achieving a benchmark score which demonstrated that they were ready for college-level English classes. Only 62 percent of men reached the college-readiness benchmark in English. In contrast, 47 percent of men were deemed ready for college-level mathematics, compared to 40 percent of women who took the ACT. Some 29 percent of men who took the ACT test were deemed college ready in all four areas of English, mathematics, reading, and science. For women 25 percent of all test takers were deemed college ready in all four areas.