True, the stronger students can explain the higher scores.
But: No, in this instance I meant the curve is wicked, as in, one Math 1 error drops your score much more than one math 2 error, keeping in mind pretty much everyone will make a few errors… - Math2 allows for a couple mistakes to still result in a perfect 800, whereas Math1, each mistake dings your score by a huge chunk. Make 4 errors in Math 2? Still 800. In Math 1? 700-730. If the student is a bit weaker and makes 10 mistakes, the score difference is huge. If they’ve not studied trigonometry then it’s not possible to take Math 2 and they have to hope they get close to 100% on the easier questions, but if they have a grasp of trigonometry (which is not the majority of questions on Math 2) then they’re better off taking Math 2.
In this case though, I’d recommend World History (as OP says it’ll be okay) and Literature (same level as Reading for ACT, with different texts).