Table 6.
College Exam Test-Taking and Preparation (percentages)
| Took SAT or ACT |
Test preparation: private class/tutoring |
Test preparation: any form |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High school cohort | 1982 | 1992 | 2004 | 1992 | 2004 | 1992 | 2004 |
| U.S. average | 56.1 | 61.0 | 64.6 | 14.1 | 18.1 | 59.7 | 62.6 |
| Test quintile | |||||||
| 1st | 29.2 | 25.2 | 34.3 | 18.4 | 19.2 | 48.2 | 48.2 |
| 2nd | 38.4 | 46.3 | 51.1 | 11.7 | 16.0 | 58.7 | 58.1 |
| 3rd | 50.8 | 65.6 | 69.5 | 12.5 | 16.7 | 62.4 | 66.8 |
| 4th | 70.7 | 80.3 | 80.3 | 11.7 | 18.0 | 66.9 | 68.1 |
| 5th | 90.5 | 89.5 | 88.8 | 15.2 | 20.3 | 65.9 | 69.7 |
| Application status | |||||||
| 4-year school | 91.7 | 89.8 | 87.4 | 17.7 | 23.1 | 72.7 | 76.5 |
| Selective private | 98.1 | 95.2 | 90.0 | 32.8 | 36.4 | 80.4 | 83.0 |
| Selective public | 95.9 | 92.9 | 88.6 | 18.0 | 27.0 | 74.0 | 76.8 |
| Region | |||||||
| New England | 63.7 | 74.1 | 68.2 | 19.1 | 19.4 | 60.5 | 58.7 |
| Middle Atlantic | 57.3 | 70.0 | 66.6 | 19.4 | 20.9 | 64.4 | 67.6 |
| South | 54.6 | 59.2 | 68.7 | 14.2 | 21.4 | 61.9 | 69.3 |
| Midwest | 57.2 | 64.9 | 71.1 | 8.7 | 13.9 | 55.0 | 59.7 |
| Southwest | 54.7 | 51.9 | 63.6 | 17.6 | 17.2 | 63.9 | 62.6 |
| West | 51.4 | 51.9 | 50.7 | 13.4 | 17.4 | 57.4 | 55.0 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, longitudinal surveys (NLS72, HSB82, NELS92, ELS04). The cohort year refers to the year on-time students would have graduated high school.
Notes: The universe is high school seniors in the year designated for each cohort, and all figures are weighted to match the population universe. The test quintile comes from a survey-specific cognitive test battery given to the respondents of each survey during the spring of their senior year; by construction, it is normalized by cohort. (The test batteries are similar but not identical across surveys.) See the online Data Appendix available at ⟨http://e-jep.org⟩ for the definitions of selective schools and the regional breakdowns. Application status refers to the types of colleges to which the respondent applied, and it is nonexclusive. SAT/ACT test taking are (each) based on students’ self reports, as are the test preparation questions; “any form” of test preparation includes private classes/tutoring, classes offered by the high school, and self study using books, video, or computer software.