This year’s Gaffney High and South Carolina graduates did better on the ACT college entrance exam even with more students taking the test.

Gaffney High saw its ACT scores increase from 19.1 in 2009 to 19.9 this year.

At Blacksburg High, ACT scores improved from 18.5 to 19.1 over the same period.

The ACT is scored on a 36-point scale. One-tenth of an ACT point equals a 4-point gain on the SAT.

ACT officials said a growth in student participation usually is followed by a drop in scores. South Carolina scores held steady even with a 1,100 more students taking the test.

The state average remained at 19.7 while the national average was 21.0, down a tenth of a point.

The ACT is a curriculum-based achievement exam designed to measure academic skills considered important for success in freshman college courses. The SAT is an implied learning test which measures how students think based on their experiences both inside and outside the classroom.

The ACT is the predominant college entrance exam in about half the states, while the College Board’s SAT dominates the other half. The ACT includes four tests in English, math, reading and science reasoning.

All South Carolina colleges accept either the ACT or SAT scores for college admission.

“My biggest concern on students taking the ACT or SAT is students sign up for these college entrance exams who aren’t always prepared to take them,” Gaffney High Principal Marlene Davis said. “If you go into these tests cold without taking the right courses or practice tests, you aren’t going to do well.”

The ACT’s recommended core courses include four years of English; three years of math and social studies; and three years of natural sciences such as biology, chemistry and physics. South Carolina students who took these core classes had an average score of 20.3 in 2010. Those who did not take these classes had an average score of 16.8.

“We have increased the academic rigor of our courses. The lowest math class a student can take is Algebra I,” Davis said. “This helps force students into taking a more rigorous curriculum. We hope that’s going to result in higher scores in the future.”