IOWA CITY, Iowa, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Only about one-fourth of 2009 U.S. high school graduates have the skills needed to succeed in college, the preparers of a national admissions test say.
ACT Inc., the Iowa company that conducts the tests, says an analysis of this year's exams indicate just 23 percent of test takers have a good chance of earning a grade of "C" of better in entry-level college courses, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The ACT test taken by nearly half of this year's 3.3 million high school seniors measures proficiency in English, reading, math and science.
Among the single subject areas, ACT says the level of college preparedness was lowest in science where only 28 percent of test takers showed readiness for college-level biology.
Math was also a problem, with 58 percent deemed not ready to tackle college algebra.
A similar analysis last year indicated only 22 percent of the class of 2008 was college-ready in the four subject areas, ACT says.
