High school juniors need to boost their English and math skills before they attend a four-year college, according to figures released Wednesday.

Only 22 percent of more than 150,000 high school juniors who volunteered for supplemental testing this spring were ready for college-level English. In math, 55 percent of 115,000 tested were ready for college-level math.

California State University officials added 15 questions each to the English and math portions of the California Standards Test taken by juniors in the spring. They released the results during a phone press conference Wednesday.

The findings mirrored a new study by ACT, one of two organizations that offers college entrance exams. ACT found that American high school students are no better prepared for college than they were 10 years ago.

Only 22 percent of the 1.2 million students nationwide who took its tests this year were ready for college-level work in English, mathematics and science, ACT announced Wednesday.

In California, the additional testing is part of an overall effort by the state university system to improve English and math proficiency before students enter college. Cal State spends about $25 million to $30 million a year on remediation efforts, said David Spence, CSU's executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer.

The new questions measured critical reading skills as well as basic math.

If students know sooner about their English and math proficiency, they will have another year to improve, Spence said.

"This test will serve as a wake-up call to many of our students" said Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of schools.

One local high school counselor, however, questioned whether 15 questions are enough to measure a student's knowledge.

"I have concerns that there may not be enough questions to get an adequate determination of students' readiness," said Connie Decker, a counselor at John W. North High School in Riverside.

Data released earlier this year showed that 63.3 percent of incoming Cal State freshmen were proficient in math and 51.8 percent were proficient in English. At Cal State San Bernardino, placement exams showed just 40.5 percent of incoming freshmen were proficient in math and 33.4 percent were proficient in English.

CSU will partner with the state Department of Education to train teachers to improve 12th grade courses in expository writing and reading and to develop a Web-based tutorial that students can use to improve their math skills. The tutorial is available at: www.csumathsuccess.org.

The cost of the additional efforts was unavailable, said Clara Potes-Fellow, Cal State spokeswoman.

CSU officials said they aim to get results to schools by Aug. 15 each year before the students begin their senior year of high school.