Changing roles of the Chaplain Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Changing roles of the Chaplain - Thesis Example Wars bring trauma to military men who are trained to fight in such events. Could this bring more than trauma to those people who are sent to wars who were not trained and not meant to be there in the first place? Chaplains are normally ordained and are officially endorsed clergy of some recognized religious body; however, some people do function as volunteer chaplains without ordination and/or endorsement. The chaplain ministry has grown rapidly over the last fifty years as both the Church and institutional settings have recognized the great need for such a ministry model and have worked to develop a mutually acceptable relationship between the institution and religious ministry.† James Johnson was a chaplain in the Vietnam War. He was sent there in 1967. In his book, Combat Chaplain: A Thirty-year Vietnam Battle, he wrote that he was only 26 years old then when he was sent to Vietnam. There he had 350 young soldier/parishioners. Johnson further stated what he felt as he and other GI soldiers went back to the United States in 1968. The author said, â€Å"So many of them have gone home in body bags. My feelings are a mixture of gladness, sadness, and grief tinged with guilt. I’m making it out and they didn’t (1-2).† Instead of giving focus to the enemies, military men are also given additional task to look after these personnel who were not trained for combat. It is not an easy task for chaplains to perform the things that they were trained to do in a place being where people are killing each other, man against man, brothers against brothers. In every religion, it is being taught that every human being should learn to love his or her man as they may not be brothers by the flesh but they are brothers by blood. In Gun Totin Chaplain, author Jerry Autry was also sent to the Vietnam War as a chaplain. There he made a realization and conclusion that war chaplains are not just tasked to perform

Health Care Financial Accounting Essay Example for Free

Health Care Financial Accounting Essay It is essential in any business, not just health care to understand how finances directly affect the growth, success and longevity of the business and all its parts. To truly understand how finance affects business it is important to gain knowledge and understanding of how the business generate revenue ,the cash flow of money that comes into the business, how bills are paid and money leaves the business and how investments are made in the business that can directly and indirectly impact the financial growth of the organization. In health care organizations there are different factors that come into play in the financial department but ultimately the process of generating revenue and paying debts are the same as any other business organization. The following items will be addressed in the review of Patton-Fuller financial statements: Annual report, including Patton-Fuller financial statements and relationship between revenue sources and expenses on Patton-Fuller’s financial performance. How did the audited and unaudited financial statements differ? In general the audited reports are more formal than the unaudited reports. The audited report includes the company’s history, a CFO report, a message from the CEO, and a report of independent auditors. The audited and unaudited financial statements differ slightly in data in some areas for Patton- Fuller Community Hospital. Under the assets section in the numbers for patients accounts receivable numbers differ slightly from 2009. In 2009 on the unaudited report it provides the data of 59,787 and on the audited it has 58,787. This also leaves the total current assets and the total assets to differ slightly for 2009. On the audited report total current assets for 2009 are 127,867 and on the unaudited report it has 128,867. On the unaudited report the total assets for 2009 are 588,767 and 587,767 on the audited. Under the total liabilities calculations the retained earnings for 2009 differ slightly. The data for 2009, on the unaudited report gives 126,564 while the audited report gives  125,564. What is the effect of revenue sources on financial reporting at the hospital? The effect of revenue sources on financial reporting at the hospital are that it is variable and could adjust as the reports get audited and could change year to year. Revenue comes from a few different sources and can be located on the financial statements and reports for the year. According to the information on the balance sheet, the sources of the â€Å"Other Revenue† are third party payers of patient bills. For the income statement, the revenue is used to calculate the operating income and ultimately the net income. The Net Income value is factored into our â€Å"Statement of Owners Equity† report to give us our end of the year value for retained earnings and stockholders equity. Net patient revenue is the first and foremost source of income for Patton-Fuller Hospital. Other sources of reve nue come from borrowing monies, equity from stock or capital, and company assets. In 2008, the net patient revenue was $418,509 in the audited report. The total other revenue for 2008 accounted for $2,805 in the audited report as well. These amounts did not change from the unaudited report. The net patient revenue for 2009 was $459,900, and other revenue was $3,082 for that year. For Patton-Fuller Hospital, the income statement shows the total revenues increased by $41,668 from 2008 ($421,314) to 2009 ($462,982 Upon further reading on the reports we find that the total expenses goes over the amount of revenue the hospital is bringing in. The total expenses for 2008 were $437,424 and for 2009 it was $463,293. ). However, since expenses continued to exceed the total revenues, our net income remained a net loss in 2009 ($373). So the overall effect of the sources on the hospital is that the hospital is going in debt because they cannot match revenue with expenses as part of the GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). How are the hospital’s revenues and expenses grouped for planning and control? The Patton Fuller Community Hospital’s statement of revenue and expense is grouped for planning and control as it is itemized out by the different types of income and expenses. Patton-Fuller Hospital groups all revenues into two categories for planning and control, the first category is net patient revenue, and the second is other revenue. Other revenue can be broken up into sub categories like revenue from assets, capital, and stock but I believe the idea of bunching them together is so it is easier to stay organized. This gives managers a clear picture as to what type of services  are receiving the most income and causing the most expenses and designed to make it easier to calculate the total net revenue from the two main sources. Expenses are broken up a little further in the financial statements; expenses are broken up by salaries and benefits, supplies, physician and professional fees, utilities, other expenses, depreciation amortization (non-cash expenses), interest, and provision for doubtful accounts. Provision for doubtful accounts would also include any changed due to being audited. These are broken up further to show where the money goes each financial period for future planning and helping to predict future expenses; this information can assist a manager in planning future budgets and in making financial adjustments to increase revenue and decrease expenses. The total expenses for 2008 were $437,424, and for 2009 they were $463,293. In 2008 the difference between the revenue the hospital brought in versus what their expenses were was $16,110. The difference in 2009 was $311 from what there revenue was verses what their expenses were. The detailed way in which the expenses are laid out allows an individual to clearly see where finances are going and highlight any warning signs that a certain department or service is costing the hospital too much and needs to be re-evaluated. Conclusion After reviewing these statements it is a clear picture that Patton-Fuller Hospital had a undeniable difference in the 2008 versus the 2009 financial statements. The numbers and financial ratios show a decrease in revenue and no improvement for the overall growth of the hospital. A good practice for the hospital’s financial managers is to regularly review the financial reports and statements to help project and plan for the differences in the audited and unaudited reports for Patton-Fuller hospital. References Apollo Group. (2013). Patton-Fuller Community Hospital Virtual Organization [Multimedia]. Retrieved from Apollo Group, HCS405-Health Care Financial Accounting website.

Existentialism :: Philosophy Sartre Existentialist Essays

Existentialism 'Existence precedes essence'. These are the few words that many people live by. These words describe a philosophy called Existentialism. The philosophical term, Existentialism, came from Jean Paul Sartre, a French philosopher. Jean Paul Sartre wrote 'No Exit', where he portrayed his philosophy negatively. On the other hand, Albert Camus, who wrote The Stranger, portrayed Existentialism positively through his characters. Each author uses the characteristics of Existentialism positively or negatively to define their own story as well as their characters as true Existentialists or not   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Existentialism has been described as a philosophical movement especially of the 20th century that stresses the individual position as self determining agent responsible for his or her own choices. Basically a true Existentialist will create their own beliefs, take responsibility for his of her own actions, and is very honest. If they were to do something wrong, they would take responsibility for their actions and not make excuses or put the blame on someone else. Furthermore, a true existentialist believes there is no God and thus man becomes alone with only ourselves as a guide to making the decisions that define our existence. They also believe that Life has no meaning and that everything happens by chance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jean-Paul Sartre examines the basic themes of existentialism through his three characters Garcin, Inez, and Estelle. Garcin seems to appear an existentialist, but upon a closer look, he violates the rules time and again. Next, Inez seems to fully understand ideas deemed existential. Estelle is the third person, and does not seem to understand these ideas well, nor does she accept them when they are first presented to her. One similarity amongst the three is that they all at some point seem to accept that they are in "hell" for a reason.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Garcin is "hell" because he beat his wife and cheated on her. However, he doesn?t wish he had acted differently. He shows and proves this when he says: ?I tell you I regret nothing (p. 24).? By saying this, Garcin is taking responsibility for his own actions; hence he is following the laws of Existentialism. However, he sometimes violates these laws. For example, he is so preoccupied with the idea that he is a coward that he makes the women tell him that he wasn?t a coward and makes her tell him that he was right in doing so. He is so dependent upon this that he wouldn?

Cause and Effect Essay: Unemployment :: Cause and Effect Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It’s hard to live a normal healthy life without a job and money. There are a variety of reasons why people are unemployed. Being unemployed can cause one to experience financial, emotional, and personal problems.  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   The most common causes of unemployment are getting fired and layed off for specific reasons. People might get layed off if a company is going out of business or maybe if there are positions in the company that are no longer needed. It’s difficult to find a job right away after being fired. Companies don’t want to hire someone who has just been fired for reasons such as failure to do a sufficient job, not showing up to work, stealing, etc. It’s also hard to find a job instantly after being layed off. In some cases the economy is down and it is hard to find any work in general.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some people can’t get hired because they don’t have an education and they are not qualified to do the work required. Most companies call a person’s references and if they don’t have a good work record they are not likely to get hired. Employees will always hire the most qualified person based on their resume, or brief account of one’s education and professional experience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Other people can’t find jobs because of disabilities or health problems. If someone gets into a car accident and gets physically injured long-term or becomes disabled, it becomes difficult to do many types of jobs. In another case a person may become ill and not be able to work for a long period of time or at all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most life changing effects of unemployment is the loss of income. Especially if they are a single parent of if they have a large family to support. Having no money means eventually having no food, no clothes, no shelter, and no car. It also prevents one from doing many things and activities, even though their amount of leisure time has increased. One might not have money to go to the movies, play on sports’ teams, or do any other recreational things. Being unemployed for a long enough time leads to a lot of debt. Any money that has been saved ends up getting spent rather quickly with all of today’s living expenses. Twenty thousand dollars may seem like a lot of money to some people, but with no income that money gets spent before you know it. Cause and Effect Essay: Unemployment :: Cause and Effect Essays   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It’s hard to live a normal healthy life without a job and money. There are a variety of reasons why people are unemployed. Being unemployed can cause one to experience financial, emotional, and personal problems.  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   The most common causes of unemployment are getting fired and layed off for specific reasons. People might get layed off if a company is going out of business or maybe if there are positions in the company that are no longer needed. It’s difficult to find a job right away after being fired. Companies don’t want to hire someone who has just been fired for reasons such as failure to do a sufficient job, not showing up to work, stealing, etc. It’s also hard to find a job instantly after being layed off. In some cases the economy is down and it is hard to find any work in general.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some people can’t get hired because they don’t have an education and they are not qualified to do the work required. Most companies call a person’s references and if they don’t have a good work record they are not likely to get hired. Employees will always hire the most qualified person based on their resume, or brief account of one’s education and professional experience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Other people can’t find jobs because of disabilities or health problems. If someone gets into a car accident and gets physically injured long-term or becomes disabled, it becomes difficult to do many types of jobs. In another case a person may become ill and not be able to work for a long period of time or at all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most life changing effects of unemployment is the loss of income. Especially if they are a single parent of if they have a large family to support. Having no money means eventually having no food, no clothes, no shelter, and no car. It also prevents one from doing many things and activities, even though their amount of leisure time has increased. One might not have money to go to the movies, play on sports’ teams, or do any other recreational things. Being unemployed for a long enough time leads to a lot of debt. Any money that has been saved ends up getting spent rather quickly with all of today’s living expenses. Twenty thousand dollars may seem like a lot of money to some people, but with no income that money gets spent before you know it.

Born in China Essay

I was born in China, a country that has long been known for its excellence and leadership in terms of math ability and numerical problems solving. Just like any Chinese child, I was raised surrounded by numbers and even learned to count in numerical order in Chinese and English before I learned the alphabet. In 1996, my family migrated to Hong Kong where I continued with my education. It was during this educational period that my love for numbers slowly emerged. Nobody could seem to understand, not even I, why I could not sit still in the classroom and listen to the teacher as she taught our classes but then sit very still and attentively every time the subjects leaned towards the Math and Science subjects. While I was bored during the other classes and almost falling asleep in my chair, I would come to life and be the most active participant during classroom discussions that involved numbers. By the end of my secondary school education in Hong Kong, it was pretty obvious to everyone around me that I had a very good head for Math and that this unique ability should be honed and harnessed in order to help my development as a person and member of society. I was lucky enough to have been given a chance to come to the USA in order to under take my college education. This began with my attendance at the Pasadena City College for one year and then my eventual move to East Los Angeles College. My major in both colleges has consistently been Business and Accounting. This is evident in all my grade transcripts as it shows that I performed quite remarkably in the Accounting related subjects while I struggled in the others. Somebody once asked me if I thought that Accounting was unfair because some people excelled in the subject while others did not. At first I was not sure about how to answer his question but then I realized that Accounting is not an unfair thing. The problem that most people have with accounting is that they have very short attention spans. A short attention span has no place in the accounting field because this exacting numbers crunching game requires an analytical eye and tremendous patience in order to be able to properly analyze and give attention to each and every number indicated on the spreadsheet. Accounting is not for the impatient. I will admit that Accounting is a true passion for me. I can work on any accounting scenario for hours on end and not get tired of it. I guess this is why my aunt decided to hire me to work at her dental office. She asked me to come and work for her as her accountant. I was ecstatic when she offered me the job because for me, an accounting job is a dream come true. Anybody who know show crazy I am about Accounting will attest to the fact that I can spend a whole day staring at balance sheet and comparing accounting records. Actually, one of my favorite activities at my aunts office, Garfield Dental, was to work on the forms for the insurance payments, aside from working at the front desk and doing other paperwork for the office. Indeed, numbers is the greatest passion of my life. It is the one other thing that, aside from my parents, taught me the value, patience, hard work, concentration, and discipline. Numbers was the one constant in my life that I could depend upon. Accounting problems are definite and therefore the outcome will always be the same. The solutions remain constantly unchanging. Accounting and Math are passions that are not easily shared with other people. Yet those that do share that kind of passion have a higher level of maturity and sense of discipline. Truly, these are the kinds of passions that the French philosopher Dennis Diderot was referring to when he said that â€Å" only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things. † Such is my passion for Accounting and such also, is the passion for learning that I shall take with me once I am admitted as a student into USC.

The Idea of the Human As Seen by Golding and Shakespeare †English Essay

The Idea of the Human As Seen by Golding and Shakespeare – English Essay Free Online Research Papers The Idea of the Human As Seen by Golding and Shakespeare English Essay To come to a view of human behavior, one must have a theory of psychology of how we act, and why we do so. This theory would probably stem from one of two things, it could stem from introspection, the analysis of oneself and thus pulling conclusions from this and making generalizations about others, from seeing your own reasoning of why you do things. Of course this would require relatively little amount of delusion to be able to do intelligently. Another way would be outrospection or the analysis of the behaviors of others in their environment. Both of these writers come from very different periods in time, and so it is expected that the mentality would differ greatly, and thus any way they would decide to analyze human behavior will vastly differ for each, as the mentality for the time periods will be different but it seems more plausible for Golding to have used outrospection, especially considering the historical accounts that had taken place, where the wars were much more traumatizing. Being subject of his environment, Goldings view of the human species seems to be much darker then Shakespeare’s. So dark that his book almost comes across as a warning to take accountability for our actions and behavior before were forced to take responsibility for them where the outcome might not have been as good as if we had willingly done so. Though we cant be positive as his view of humans, we can assume that the way these writers view humans and human psychology, is interpreted through their books, and going off of this assumption we can imagine what they think of humans. On page 195 of Goldings Inheritors Lok has discovered the use of similes and begins to make a systematic chain of similes describing the people. He begins by saying The people are like a famished wolf in the hollow of a tree., where people were hungry but were frightened of the world and others, this is how most of us are when we are born, we tend to cling to our mother or father because we are scared of the outside, and would rather stay in the hollow of a tree, where we know its safe. Eventually we trickle out, when we become more comfortable with the world. After being accustomed to the world around us, people go from what was once sweet to becoming the new honey that smells of dead things and fire which represents their fall to corruptions. This co rruption and greed soon ensues the hunger for power, where we were once content with being hungry for knowledge, we now become hungry for possessions and power, and let nothing stand in our way like the river and the fall. After so much false sense of power, and possessions, and domination at the expense of others, we ultimately succumb to our delusion, and start to believe that all these newly conquered and acquired things give us more power, enough to make us believe we are even god. The new people have no hesitation to kill other human beings, where even attacking another human was unfathomable in Lok’s world, now he sees humans take the lives of other humans. If this were to be seen from an outside source such as Lok, this could easily be portrayed as extreme arrogance, to think one would hold himself above other’s enough to deem themselves able to take lives away from people, surely only Oa would have such power. All of these sentences individually represent his view of humans, but I believe his true vision of humans is seen when all these are strung together to give a chronological view of human evolution which will ultimately lead us to our own demise. Shakespeare doesnt seem to have such a negative view of humans and seems to have more faith in the human race then Golding as seen in Much Ado About Nothing. Of course he acknowledges that there will always be the good and the bad in the world, the same duality that we saw in Inheritors, but on that same note Shakespeare seems to think that as long as one perseveres, that truth and good will always prevail. Shakespeare shows us such huge dualities in personality such as Benedict and Beatrice in respect to Hero and Claudio, where the former seems to have a more cynical view of the respective sex, we start seeing some dramatic changes in both of them. It seems that Shakespeare believes, even if one is more negative to begin with, they will gravitate towards goodness, this is also shown when Boracio and Conrade are caught in the streets talking about how they just conned Don Pedro and Claudio in thinking they it was Hero in the window and are caught by Verges and Dogberry. They could have kept it a secret and lied, but in the name of the greater good, for their honor, they told the truth. In a world where honor, truth, and virtue are above all, what would be more damaging then removing and this is exactly what Don John and Boracio attempt to do to Hero by making her appear as someone who is unfaithful. This indicates that Shakespeare does not only think that one can go from bad to good (as seen by Boracio and Conrade, and to a lesser degree Benedict and Beatrice) but that some are intrinsically born with these qualities such as in Hero who comes across as being very serene and pure. One of the underlying themes in both cases is the change or the evolution of the people. Golding seems more to want to tell us that the evolution shown in the book, becoming the new people a much greater evil, is what has happened. In Golding’s world men are seen as corruptible and will eventually fall to this corruption, as dominating and power hungry creatures. We went from being very peaceful and being so innocent to something with ambitions to conquer others, while most of the change that occurs in Much Ado About Nothing seem to be much more positive. It never seemed like a personality trait of Boracio’s or Conrade’s that they would admit to saying the truth to anything and yet we see them say the truth even though it puts them at risk, a sacrifice for truth. Nor did we ever expect Benedict or Beatrice to ever fall in love, even more so with each other, because of their radical views in regards to the opposite sex. But truth and good prevailed in the end. Research Papers on The Idea of the Human As Seen by Golding and Shakespeare - English EssayMind TravelEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionGenetic EngineeringThe Spring and AutumnThree Concepts of PsychodynamicStandardized TestingCapital PunishmentRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andPETSTEL analysis of India

Average ACT Scores by State (Most Recent)

Average ACT Scores by State (Most Recent) SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Did you recently get your ACT scores back and are now wondering how your score compares with those of other test takers in your state? Or perhaps you're curious as to how your state’s average ACT score stacks up against other state averages. For this article, we compiled the average ACT scores by state, as well as the average in each subject area, using the latest data from ACT, Inc. Read on to learn how your state's SAT data- and your ACT score- compares with the averages in the rest of the country. What's the National Average ACT Score? Nearly two million students nationwide took the ACT in 2017/18- 1.91 million, to be precise. Out of all of those tests, the national average scores came out as follows: ACT Section Average Score English 20.2 Math 20.5 Reading 21.3 Science 20.7 Composite 20.8 Source: ACT National Profile Report 2018 Remember that each ACT section, and the overall composite score, are scored between 1 and 36. This means that if you get a composite score of 21 or higher, you will beat half the other high school students in the country.If you get significantly higher than 21, you will have beaten out a majority of test takers. Likewise, if you get lower than 21, a majority of test takers will have beaten out you. But what about the ACT averages in your state specifically? Read on to learn how well you have to do on the exam to be considered above average in your home state. All Average ACT Scores by State (2017) The following table containsall ACT state averages for the class of2017(the most recent data available). We've also included state participation rates to give you an idea of the reach of the ACT in each state and the size of the population being tested. State Participation English Math Reading Science Composite Alabama 100% 18.9 18.4 19.7 19.4 19.2 Alaska 65% 18.7 19.8 20.4 19.9 19.8 Arizona 62% 18.6 19.8 20.1 19.8 19.7 Arkansas 100% 18.9 19.0 19.7 19.5 19.4 California 31% 22.5 22.7 23.1 22.2 22.8 Colorado 100% 20.1 20.3 21.2 20.9 20.8 Connecticut 31% 25.5 24.6 25.6 24.6 25.2 Delaware 18% 24.1 23.4 24.8 23.6 24.1 District of Columbia 32% 24.4 23.5 24.9 23.5 24.2 Florida 73% 19.0 19.4 21.0 19.4 19.8 Georgia 55% 21.0 20.9 22.0 21.3 21.4 Hawaii 90% 17.8 19.2 19.2 19.3 19.0 Idaho 38% 21.9 21.8 23.0 22.1 22.3 Illinois 93% 21.0 21.2 21.6 21.3 21.4 Indiana 35% 22.0 22.4 23.2 22.3 22.6 Iowa 67% 21.2 21.3 22.6 22.1 21.9 Kansas 73% 21.1 21.3 22.3 21.7 21.7 Kentucky 100% 19.6 19.4 20.5 20.1 20.0 Louisiana 100% 19.4 18.8 19.8 19.6 19.5 Maine 8% 24.2 24.0 24.8 23.7 24.3 Maryland 28% 23.3 23.1 24.2 23.2 23.6 Massachusetts 29% 25.4 25.3 25.9 24.7 25.4 Michigan 29% 24.1 23.7 24.5 23.8 24.1 Minnesota 100% 20.4 21.5 21.8 21.6 21.5 Mississippi 100% 18.2 18.1 18.8 18.8 18.6 Missouri 100% 19.8 19.9 20.8 20.5 20.4 Montana 100% 19.0 20.2 21.0 20.5 20.3 Nebraska 84% 20.9 20.9 21.9 21.5 21.4 Nevada 100% 16.3 18.0 18.1 18.2 17.8 New Hampshire 18% 25.4 25.1 26.0 24.9 25.5 New Jersey 34% 23.8 23.8 24.1 23.2 23.9 New Mexico 66% 18.6 19.4 20.4 20.0 19.7 New York 31% 23.8 24.0 24.6 23.9 24.2 North Carolina 100% 17.8 19.3 19.6 19.3 19.1 North Dakota 98% 19.0 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.3 Ohio 75% 21.2 21.6 22.5 22.0 22.0 Oklahoma 100% 18.5 18.8 20.1 19.6 19.4 Oregon 40% 21.2 21.5 22.4 21.7 21.8 Pennsylvania 23% 23.4 23.4 24.2 23.3 23.7 Rhode Island 21% 24.0 23.3 24.7 23.4 24.0 South Carolina 100% 17.5 18.6 19.1 18.9 18.7 South Dakota 80% 20.7 21.5 22.3 22.0 21.8 Tennessee 100% 19.5 19.2 20.1 19.9 19.8 Texas 45% 19.5 20.7 21.1 20.9 20.7 Utah 100% 19.5 19.9 20.8 20.6 20.3 Vermont 29% 23.3 23.1 24.4 23.2 23.6 Virginia 29% 23.5 23.3 24.6 23.5 23.8 Washington 29% 20.9 21.9 22.1 22.0 21.9 West Virginia 69% 20.0 19.4 21.2 20.5 20.4 Wisconsin 100% 19.7 20.4 20.6 20.9 20.5 Wyoming 100% 19.4 19.8 20.8 20.6 20.2 National 60% 20.3 20.7 21.4 21.0 21.0 Source:ACT College Career Readiness 2017 ACT Averages by State: Hall of Fame Now that you've had a chance to skim the list of state ACT averages, we thought it would be fun to highlight the highs and lows of the United States' ACT performance. See if your state made the cut below! Highest ACT State Score: New Hampshire New Hampshire narrowly achieved the highest score in the country, with an average composite of 25.5, just above Massachusetts (25.4) and Connecticut (25.2). †¦ and your high ACT score! However, it should be noted thatthese three states have relatively low ACT participation: 18% for New Hampshire, 29% for Massachusetts, and 31% for Connecticut. This is because the SAT is more popular in these states. So what does this data mean? Ultimately, it suggests that those taking the ACT in these states are ambitious, college-bound students looking to improve their applications, which would make for a higher average ACT score. Team Players: 100% ACT Participation There are 17 states with 100% ACT participation- that's 34% of the country! These states have made the ACT a mandatory part of their statewide testing regimens, helping high school students be better prepared for their college applications. Alabama Arkansas Colorado Kentucky Louisiana Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nevada North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Utah Wisconsin Wyoming Highest ACT State Score With 100% Participation: Minnesota As you know, 17 states currently have 100% ACT participation. The state with the highest average score out of this group has a lot to be proud of because that average represents the entire high school population of that state. So who wins? Minnesota, with a 21.5 average composite score. The runner-up is Colorado with a 20.8 average composite, and Wisconsin is inthird with a 20.5 composite average. Lowest Participation: Maine Maine wins this one by a landslide, with just 8% of its students taking the ACT. This is likely because the SAT is still the test of choice in that northeastern state. However, the SAT, which was once required in Maine, is now optional as well. ACT-free, it would appear. Lowest ACT State Score: Nevada Nevada earns the dubious honor of getting the lowest average ACT score, with an average composite of 17.8. This low average is likely due to the fact that Nevada only recently began to mandate statewide ACT testing starting in 2016. In general, big jumps in test takers often result in lower averages. As such, this new average is noticeably lower thanNevada's 2015 average of 21, back when just some students took the ACT. As the ACT becomes a staple of Nevada's state testing regimen, averages will likely increase. Key Takeaways: Average ACT Scores by State As you can see, the average ACT score can change pretty dramatically depending on which state you're looking at. Nationally, the average composite ACT score is21- but many states' averages are higher or lower than this. In general, states with 100% participation rates (i.e., states that require the ACT) tend to havelower averages,whereas states with low participation rates tend to havehigher averages. In terms of notable states, here's a quick wrap-up of the ACT "awards" we gave above: Highest ACT State Score: New Hampshire (25.5 average) Team Players: 100% ACT Participation Alabama Arkansas Colorado Kentucky Louisiana Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nevada North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Utah Wisconsin Wyoming Highest ACT State Score With 100% Participation: Minnesota (21.5 average) Lowest ACT State Score: Nevada (17.8 average) If you're ever curious what ACT score you need to aim for to be considered above average for your state, simply come back to this page, check the chart, and see whether your state made our Hall of Fame! What’s Next? Want more context for your ACT score? Learn more about the national ACT average score and ACT score percentiles. What ACT scores are considered good by various colleges?Check out our guide to developing a target ACT score based on the schools you want to apply to. Wondering about what your composite ACT score represents in terms of right and wrong answers?Learn the ins and outs of ACT scoringand get tips to help you use this info to your advantage. Trying to maximize your ACT score? Avoid this common ACT mistake to improve your composite. Also,check out our top strategies to raise your ACT essay score. Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically.