The minimum scores for ACT are 18 for Reading Section, 17 for English Section, and 19 for Math Section. The SAT is usually taken in the early fall (October or November) of the senior year. A number of juniors take the test in the late spring (May or June) and take it again in the senior year.
An IQ score of 115 means performance one standard deviation above the median, a score of 85 performance one standard deviation below the median, and so on. Lewis Terman and other early developers of IQ tests noticed that most child IQ scores come out to approximately the same number by either procedure.
An IQ score of 70 or below is considered a low score. Remember, on most standardized tests of intelligence, the average score is set at 100. Anything over 140 is considered high or genius-level. Sixty-eight percent of all scores fall within plus or minus 15 points of the mean (so between 85 and 115). So what does it mean to have a score 70 or below? In the past, an IQ score below 70 was considered a benchmark for mental retardation, an intellectual disability characterized by significant cognitive impairments. Today, however, IQ scores alone are not used to diagnose intellectual disability. Instead, the criteria for a diagnosis includes an IQ below 70, evidence that these cognitive limitations existed before the age of 18 and limitations in two or more adaptive areas such as communication and self-help skills.