South Dakota Class Of 2025 Achieves Impressive ACT Scores

For the fifth straight year, South Dakota high school students are excelling on their college entrance exam scores.

Impressive numbers

The state Department of Education says the graduating class of 2025 earned an average ACT composite score of 21.0, well above the national average of 19.4. The ACT is a standardized test used for college admissions in the United States. The test includes four academic skill areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science.

A total of 6,157 South Dakota students took the ACT. Twenty-nine students scored a perfect 36 in English; 64 hit that mark in Reading.

Of those who indicated their first choice of postsecondary education, 75 percent preferred colleges or universities in South Dakota.

Ready for college

41 percent of South Dakota test-takers met college readiness benchmarks in three or four of the four academic skill areas, as compared with 33 percent in the Midwest and 30 percent of students nationally.

The benchmark rate indicates a level of achievement to have a 50 percent chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75-80 percent chance of earning a C or higher in corresponding credit-bearing courses.

Similar to last year, of those students who indicated a specific planned educational major, the most common area of preferred study in the state was health science and technologies, followed by business.

South Dakota ACT scores/National Average

2021: 21.6/20.3
2022: 21.5/19.8
2023: 21.1/19.5
2024: 21.1/19.4
2025: 21.0/19.4

South Dakota in one of 23 states with an average ACT score of more than 21.

60 percent of the state's 2025 graduates took the ACT.

Changes coming

Currently, the test is optional for students who are considering pursuing postsecondary education. That will change next year when all South Dakota juniors at public schools will take the test, as it will replace the previously required state assessment at the high school level.

The ACT will be administered as part of the school day.

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