College Admission Tests

Students preparing for the end of their high school education take a variety of tests or go through other screening procedures for admission to various post-secondary programs. The two most widely established college admissions tests are the American College Testing Program (ACT) and the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).

ACT

The ACT tests student knowledge in English, math, reading and science reasoning. Oregon ACT test scores reflect the achievement of a relatively small number of graduating seniors (only 12.2 percent, or 4,125 students in 2004). Nationwide, 39.6 percent of graduating seniors (1,171,460 students) were tested.

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SAT

The College Board, which administers the SAT test, no longer refers to the test as the Scholastic Assessment Test. It is now simply called the SAT. The SAT scores for individual schools are reported as part of the school report cards released annually by the Oregon Department of Education.

National, state and local SAT results for the most recent year’s high school graduates are usually announced in late August. The College Board, Princeton, N.J., which conducts the SAT, announces national scores. The state Department of Education announces state scores. The College Board reports local results to individual high schools. If more than six students participate, results also are reported in high schools’ report cards issued annually by the Oregon Department of Education. Districts with more than one high school have school-by-school results if they purchased that information from The College Board.

When reporting SAT scores at any level, it is important to note the percentage of students taking the test. The College Board indicates scores generally go down as the percentage of students taking the test climbs.

For more information about Oregon’s SAT scores, see Student Testing.

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