The ACT and the SAT both play a major role in applying for colleges. However, if the most recent ACT results are any indication, the newest crop of graduates may not be ready for college level work.

In the results released in August, the testing organization said only 38 percent of graduates who took reached their college readiness benchmarks in at least three of the four subjects tested (reading, English, math and science). In comparison, 40 percent of graduating seniors reached the benchmarks in 2015.

More concerning, the average composite score also went down, from 21 in 2015 to 20.8 this year. The ACT is comprised of four tests that are scored on a scale of 1 to 36 and the composite is the average of of these.

Some of this drop may be attributed to the increase in the overall number of students who now take the ACT. In 2016, nearly 2.1 million students took the ACT, accounting for 64 percent of graduating seniors. That’s up from 59 percent from the year before. This may be increasing the number of test takers who are not necessarily bound for college which in turn could explain the lower scores.

While this decrease in college readiness may be expected, there are steps students can take to improve their scores in both the ACT and SAT. One-to-one test preparation - such as the type Tutor Doctor offers - seems to be the best option for getting those test scores up. Results from a nationwide study showed  that students who took private test prep classes saw an average increase of 60 points on their SATs compared to those who didn't participate in any sort of prep classes. This means they were more likely to get into the college of their choice.

To learn more about how Tutor Doctor franchisees are helping students tackle college admissions, download the handbook here.