Guilford County Schools’ (GCS) Class of 2014 earned an average combined score of 1435 on the SAT college admissions exam, up two points from the previous year. The College Board released national, state and district results on Tuesday, Oct. 7.

In GCS, the average SAT math score increased three points to 491 and critical reading increased one point, from 481 to 482. GCS’ combined reading and math score was up four points from 969 to 973. The average writing score for GCS decreased two points from 464 to 462. All totaled, GCS’ average score reached 1435. The state and national average combined scores for critical reading, math and writing are 1483 and 1497, respectively.

The Early College at Guilford has the highest average combined score in the state at 2058. Seven GCS schools exceeded the state and U.S. combined average for critical reading, math and writing. 

More GCS students took the SAT this year than last year, but the average participation rate was down slightly, decreasing from 67.6 percent, or 3,260 seniors taking the exam in the 2012-13 school year to 66.7 percent, or about 3,390 seniors in 2013-14. However, the district’s participation remains more than two percentage points higher than the state average and nearly 15 percentage points higher than the national average.

One potential reason for the decline in SAT participation is due to the state’s use of the ACT, another college admissions exam, in the state accountability model. North Carolina now gives the ACT to all juniors free of charge. Therefore, some students may choose to only take the ACT, which causes a decline in the number of students taking the SAT.

GCS 2014 graduating seniors scored an average of 18.6 on the ACT, up slightly from 18.2 in 2013.

North Carolina selected the ACT as its new college readiness measure for high schools because it is a curriculum-based achievement test consisting of four separate exams in English, reading, mathematics and science as well as an optional writing assessment. The ACT is scored on a scale of 1 to 36 with 36 being the highest possible composite score.

*Please note: The state also released Advanced Placement (AP) testing data Tuesday. However, at least one GCS school was not included in the district data, which means the state will recalculate GCS’ data. GCS will release that information at a later date.