Illinois students' ACT scores have held steady this year. They're also the highest of the nine states that administer the college entrance exam to all graduating high school students.

The state's composite score for 2012 was 20.9, the same as the year before. The highest score possible is 36. Nationally, the average score was 21.1, but many states only test college-bound students.

Illinois requires all 11th graders to take the ACT, regardless of whether they plan to go to college.

Illinois' highest scores were in math. The lowest were in English.

The percentage of students meeting all 4 of the test's College Readiness Benchmarks increased from 23% last year to 25% this year.

The results were released Wednesday by the Illinois State Board of Education.