University Entrance Exam Scores

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Description:

Innovation requires the steady input of human capital into the workforce and into institutions of higher learning. The performance on entrance exam scores of entering university students is a measure of the quality of students that are being attracted to the state’s universities. Students applying for university admission may submit entrance exam test scores from either or both of two tests: SAT and ACT. This indicator presents the SAT scores and ACT scores of students entering the three state universities. Since the source of the data, the National Center for Education Statistics, does not report either the mean or median score, an average of the scores at the 25th and 75th percentiles was calculated.

The estimated SAT and ACT scores for each of the three universities as a percentage of the national average of all test takers are shown on Arizona Indicators. The SAT score is the sum of the critical reading and mathematics scores; the ACT score is the composite of the scores on four subjects: English, mathematics, reading, and science.

Data Source:

The scores by university are available from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/, available in the “Admissions” section. The national average for the ACT is available from the “ACT Scores Over Time” page of the annual report at http://www.act.org/news/data.html. The national average for the SAT is available from the time series table at the beginning of the annual report at http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/archived. All of the data are updated annually.

Data Quality Comments:

The data are estimates from the scores at the 25th and 75th percentiles; the data for Arizona State University include only the main campus in Tempe.

Exam Scores for Entering Freshman at Arizona Universities as a Percentage of the National Average of All Test Takers

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Visualization Notes:

SAT exam scores for entering freshman have been above the national average of all test takers at each of Arizona’s three public universities, except during the mid-2000s at Northern Arizona University. The scores generally are highest at the University of Arizona and lowest at Northern Arizona University. No trend is seen at any of the universities.

ACT exam scores for entering freshman have consistently been above the national average of all test takers at each of Arizona’s three public universities, with the scores generally highest at the University of Arizona and lowest at Northern Arizona University. No trend is seen at any of the universities, though the 2010 figure at the University of Arizona was the highest of the decade.