Minnesota high school grads again scored atop the national average in the ACT college entrance exam. The class of 2012's English, reading, math and science proficiency test scores tallied an average of 22.8 out of 36 – 1.5 points higher than the national average.
This year's state average ticked down a tenth of a point, but "Minnesota has been at the top of the list in terms of achievement for a number of years and remains there this year," said ACT spokesman Ed Colby. "By far one of the strong achieving states in terms of college readiness,"
A few states with a much smaller percentage of students taking the test fared better than Minnesota, but ACT only compares states where a majority of students take the test, giving Minnesota its top ranking. A whopping 74 percent of Minnesota's 2012 high school graduates took the ACT this year.
