The class of 2008 in Mississippi earned higher scores on the SAT than the national mean in three categories. The figures were released Tuesday.

Nine hundred thirty-seven students took the test. The mean was 574 in critical reading, 556 in math and 566 in writing. Those are all above that national mean.

Nationally, more than 1.5 million students took the test and there was a mean of 502 for critical reading, 515 for math and 494 for writing.

However, Mississippi still has the lowest average score in the nation on the ACT exam, which was taken by 25,641 students. It currently stands at 18.9.

The ACT said only 22 percent of the students met national college standards in all four subjects tested: English, reading, math and science.