Private school graduates are better prepared for college than those with diplomas from other schools, according to 2018 data from the ACT.

According to the ACT press release, “ACT research shows that students who meet the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks are more likely to persist in college and earn a degree than those who don’t. The benchmarks specify the minimum score students must earn on each of the four ACT subject tests to have about a 75 percent chance of earning a grade of C or higher and a 50 percent chance of earning a B or higher in a typical credit-bearing first-year college course in that subject area.”

More than 1.9 million students, an estimated 55 percent of 2018 high school graduates, took the ACT. Of those, 198,464 were from private schools. On October 17, ACT released “The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2018,” its annual report on the readiness of high school graduates for college.

The private school advantage remained steady across all subject areas: English – 24.7 vs. 19.7; reading – 24.8 vs. 20.9; math – 23.1 vs. 20.2; and science – 23.4 vs. 20.4. The ACT scoring scale ranges from 1 to 36.

Average ACT Composite Scores

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Percent of ACT-Tested Graduates Ready for College-Level Work, 2018

Percent of ACT-Tested Graduates Ready for College-Level Work, 2018

Percent of ACT-Tested Graduates Ready for College-Level Work, 2018

Percent of ACT-Tested Graduates Ready for College-Level Work, 2018