The Class of 2023 might be the least prepared for the rigors of college coursework of any graduating class since 1991, according to newly released results from this year’s ACT college readiness exam.

ACT scores fell again this year, continuing a six-year trend that sharply accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic as schools were placed on lockdown.

Last year, US students’ average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of a possible 36. This year, the average score slid to 19.5.

“The hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success in college and career,” Janet Godwin, CEO of the ACT said in a statement.

ACT scores in 2023 were down across every academic subject over last year.

Including English (-0.4%), mathematics (-0.3%), reading (-0.3%) and science (-0.3%).

Just 21% of students taking this year’s exam met all four of ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks, while the percentage of students meeting none of the benchmarks reached a record high of 43%.

The benchmarks correspond with the likelihood that students will succeed in credit-bearing first-year college classes.

According to ACT research, students who meet a particular benchmark have an approximately 50% shot at earning a B or better in the corresponding course and a 75% chance at earning at least a C.

Approximately 1.4 million high school seniors from all 50 states took this year’s ACT test, an increase over last year’s graduating class but still below pre-pandemic levels.

In recent years, more and more colleges have relaxed standardized test requirements or scrapped them altogether, with many citing racial or socioeconomic disparities.

A survey conducted last fall by the National Center for Fair & Open Testing found that more than 80% of bachelor-degree granting colleges no longer require students seeking admission in the fall of 2023 to submit either SAT or ACT standardized test scores, with several New York schools among them.

In 2021, the City University of New York (CUNY) suspended both the ACT and SAT admission requirements through the spring of 2023, citing the impact of the pandemic.

It has since revised the policy to “test-optional” through spring 2025, meaning first-year applicants can choose whether to submit their results.

The State University of New York (SUNY) followed suit in April of this year after its board unanimously scrapped the admissions test requirement.

In March, Columbia University became the first Ivy League school to make the SAT and ACT optional for applicants.

Vassar College, an elite liberal arts school in Poughkeepsie, also dropped its standardized testing requirement around the same time.

The ACT test was first introduced in 1959, and serves as the leading college readiness test for graduating high school seniors.