Hey everyone! Can someone please explain what the term 'ACT mean score' stands for? I've come across this term a lot while researching college admissions, and I'm a bit confused about what it means.
The term 'ACT mean score' refers to the average score of all test-takers on the ACT examination. This average is calculated by adding the total scores of all the examinees and then dividing that by the number of test-takers. Mean essentially is another term for average.
The mean score can give you an idea of what the typical ACT score is for a large pool of test-takers, whether it be for high school students across your state, for instance, or even nationwide. It's important to remember that individual college or university admissions are often looking for ACT scores that are considerably higher than the mean, especially at more selective institutions.
For instance, say the ACT mean score at your high school is 24 (out of a possible 36). That gives you a sense of how students at your school perform on average. However, more selective colleges often have ACT score averages much higher than that, sometimes in the 30-34 range.
In short, the 'ACT mean score' is a term that refers to the average ACT score among a certain group of test-takers, and it can give a broad idea of how students are generally performing on the ACT.
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