<p>It also has to do with ethnic/racial composition of the state. Calif has a LOT of test-takers whose native language is not English. Thus, the CR ain't gonna come easy.</p>
<p>^^^ I think drusba's explanation is spot-on. Consider the following:</p>
<p>NATIONAL AVERAGE 502 CR 515 M</p>
<p>MASSACHUSETTS</p>
<p>Oops, didn't finish my post & accidentally hit "send." Here goes:</p>
<p>2008 SAT (stats from the College Board) </p>
<p>NATIONAL AVERAGE 502 CR 515 M</p>
<p>MASSACHUSETTS 514 CR 525 M</p>
<p>CONNECTICUT 509 CR 513 M</p>
<p>MINNESOTA 596 CR 609 M</p>
<p>Not even close; Minnesota kids are just a lot smarter than New Englanders, right? No. Look at the numbers of kids who took the test:</p>
<p>MASSACHUSETTS 61,295
CONNECTICUT 36,085
MINNESOTA 5,080</p>
<p>Minnesota's population of 5.1 million falls roughly halfway between Connecticut at 3.5 million and Massachusetts at 6.5 million; presumably the number of college-bound HS grads in each state is roughly proportional to its overall population. Why then so few SAT-takers in Minnesota in comparison to MA and CT? Simple. The ACT is the dominant test in the Midwest, and most Minnesota kids take only that test which is all they need to get into their state schools or other Midwestern publics or privates. Pretty much the only Minnesotans who take the SAT are a self-selecting group who aspire to schools on the East or West Coasts where the SAT is the dominant test, and on average these are a higher-achieving group than college-bound HS grads as a whole. So the SAT averages are skewed. This is not true with the PSAT, which most college-bound HS juniors take in hopes of making National Merit.</p>
<p>^ Never underestimate the power of self-selection.</p>
<p>I bet that if we looked at highest ACT scores by state it would be skewed toward the NE, for the same reason that SAT averages in the Midwest are higher.</p>
<p>I'm surprised PA's average is around a 1500. I thought it would be lower. The public school system here is pretty bad.</p>
<p>Pennsylvania is very close to the national average which simply reflects that it has no monoply on pretty bad school systems.</p>
<p>I'm gonna have to go with the northeast/ california. They are known to have the overall best school systems.</p>
<p>Yes, I think I really had PSAT/NMSQT scores in mind when I mentioned the northeast. Both drusba and bclintonk make good points about state-to-state comparisons. </p>
<p>P.S. Minnesota scores well on either the ACT or the SAT.</p>
<p>Going from experience, people who take the ACT in the northeast are usually those who dont do great on the SAT, while in the mideast im assuming the people that take the SAT do it to appeal more to top schools.</p>
<p>^ I totally forgot about the self-selecting group factor. But it totally makes a difference. About 90% (maybe more?) take the ACT..about 300 or so kids showed up to take the ACT in October. And most of that were from my school. HOwever, the Oct SAT I had maybe 30. Maybe even less from my school because there were alot of other kids from near by places. Most of these kids are applying to the East/West schools. This trend is even more prominent when you look at the kids taking the SAT SUbject tests..</p>
<p>Which is why I was so suprised when I got my score to see that our school average was about 600 on each section! ANd that my percentile was about 15% lower compared to the national one.</p>
<p>I would definitely say the Northeast. CT, MA...</p>
<p>As far as PSAT/NMSQT scores go, don't lump all of "the South" together. Texas' cutoff for Semifinalist this year was 215, which is a heck of a lot higher than some states. Still not 221 or anything like MA, but you get my drift. Texas is no Alabama/Arkansas/Kansas/Georgia/Lousiana/Mississippi lol</p>
<p>haha, California has a good school system? that's a good one! it's ranked the "49th smartest state"</p>
<p>Koreans cram SAT. I reckon the rest of Asia can't catch up because they cram for other examinations. <em>Kowtows</em></p>
<p>Data from the ACT itself, for 2007:</p>
<p>STATE/PERCENT OF GRADS TESTED/AVERAGE ACT COMPOSITE SCORE</p>
<p>National 42 21.2</p>
<ol>
<li>Massachusetts 15 23.5</li>
<li>Connecticut 16 23.2</li>
<li>Washington 16 23.1</li>
<li>New York 21 22.9</li>
<li>New Hampshire 15 22.9</li>
<li>Vermont 22 22.8</li>
<li>Minnesota 70 22.5</li>
<li>Maine 11 22.5</li>
<li>Iowa 66 22.3</li>
<li>Wisconsin 70 22.3</li>
</ol>
<p>I take back what I said. Kids in Minnesota ARE smarter. With a full 70% of the state's HS grads taking the ACT, they score ON AVERAGE 1.3 points above the national average. </p>
<p>As Garrison Keillor likes to say, it's "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."</p>
<p>maybe Minnesota has more white people, who tend to do better on tests than blacks/hispanics</p>
<p>edit: suspicions confirmed. 87% white and only 8% of people are black/hispanic, MN is one of the least diverse states</p>
<p>Now compare the top 10 in 2008 SAT scores:</p>
<p>STATE/PARTICIPATION RATE/AVERAGE SAT SCORE</p>
<p>National 45% 1511</p>
<ol>
<li>Iowa 3% 1797</li>
<li>Minnesota 8% 1784</li>
<li>Missouri 5% 1775</li>
<li>Wisconsin 5% 1768</li>
<li>North Dakota 3% 1766</li>
<li>South Dakota 2% 1766</li>
<li>Illinois 7% 1762</li>
<li>Michigan 6% 1751</li>
<li>Kansas 7% 1733</li>
<li> Nebraska 5% 1733
. . . </li>
<li> Washington 52% 1568</li>
<li>New Hampshire 74% 1555</li>
<li> Massachusetts 83% 1552
. . . </li>
<li>Connecticut 83% 1535<br>
. . .</li>
<li> California 48% 1512
. . . </li>
<li> New York 84% 1473</li>
</ol>
<p>Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa are the only states that come out at or near the top in both tests, outscoring Massachusetts and Connecticut by 200+ points on the SAT, and outscoring New York by a jaw-dropping 300+ points. Again, partly self-selection on the SAT side, but on the other hand kids from Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin score well above national norms on the ACT as well, even though the vast majority of all HS grads in those states are taking the test.</p>
<p>^ Race can't be the explanation as kids in a number of other non-diverse states---Maine, Idaho, Utah, Montana come to mind---do not score particularly well on either the ACT or the SAT.</p>
<p>^ but those states are also known for bad school systems and education in general</p>
<p>Minnesotans just like to read a lot. It's part of the regional culture here. Minnesota is also, I have read, second only to Hawaii in its percentage of "interracial" families--I haven't checked the Census to confirm this. We're all human beings here, and we mostly like to read.</p>