What is the average sat score possible

There are different ways to calculate what an "average" score is for the SAT. For the Evidence-Based Reading section, the College Board predicts that if all high school students took the exam, the average score would be a little over For college-bound students who typically take the SAT, that average goes up to about This latter number is probably the more meaningful one since it is the average among the students you are competing with on the college admissions front.

For the Math section of the exam, the average score for all high school students is very similar to the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section—a little over For college-bound students who are likely to take the SAT, the average Math score is a little over Here again that latter number is probably the more meaningful one since you would want to compare your score to other college-bound students. Note that the exam changed significantly in March of , and the average scores are a little higher today than they had been before Averages, however, don't really tell you what kind of score you're going to need for selective colleges and universities.

After all, every student who gets into a school like Stanford or Amherst is going to be well above average. The table below can give you a sense of the typical score ranges for students who were admitted to different types of highly selective colleges and universities.

You're obviously in a stronger position if your scores are in the upper ranges in the tables below. Highly selective colleges and universities reject students with near perfect SAT scores when other parts of the application fail to impress the admissions folks.

In general, a combined SAT score of roughly will make you competitive at nearly any college or university in the country.

The definition of a "good" score, however, is entirely dependent upon what schools you're applying to. The table below will give you a sense of the types of scores you'll need for a wide range of selective public and private colleges and universities.

View the ACT version of this article. SAT scores aren't the most important part of a college application your academic record is , but aside from colleges that are test-optional, they can play a big role in a school's admissions decision. Mediocre scores aren't going to cut it at the country's most selective colleges and universities, and some public universities have concrete cut-off numbers. If you score below the required minimum, you won't be admitted.

If you aren't happy with your performance on the SAT, keep in mind that all colleges are happy to accept either ACT or SAT scores regardless of where in the country you live.

If the ACT is your better exam, you can almost always use that exam. This ACT version of this article can help guide you. You'll find that most schools report critical reading and math scores, but not the writing scores. This is because the writing part of the exam never fully caught on when it was introduced in , and many schools still do not use it in their admissions decisions. And when the redesigned SAT rolled out in , the writing section became an optional part of the exam.

There are some colleges that require the writing section, but the number of schools with that requirement has been rapidly declining in recent years. The table above is just a sampling of admissions data.

Prepare for each test administration seriously to ensure you perform your best. To be the most competitive applicant, you should aim for a score near the 75th percentile, if not higher. Depending on how you scored your first time around, you may not need to! Compare your score to the score range of the schools you are considering.

We recommend students take the SAT at least once in the fall of your junior year. This way you have time to study and improve before retaking the test in the spring of junior year, if you need to. Starting earlier will help you avoid having to test during fall of senior year, when there are so many other things to worry about. The College Board takes about 3 weeks to send your official score report, so plan ahead if you need to meet deadlines.

We compiled a list of all the SAT test dates and registration deadlines to help you get started. That said, it will be harder to gain admission if your scores are lower, especially if the school is selective. If your AI is below a certain threshold, you may get rejected automatically.

If you have a special circumstance, however, colleges might be more forgiving when it comes to a low score. Students with special circumstances include those with exceptional talents, those who experienced an illness or family death, those from a low-income background, or those from underrepresented minority groups among other situations. For example, knowing the instructions in advance of the test will save valuable time which is better used for answering questions.

Likewise, a clear understanding of the format—such as the knowledge that SAT questions with the exception of Critical Reading are arranged in ascending order of difficulty—will allow you to strategize where to devote the majority of your allotted time.

Take some practice exams before the big day and get accustomed to taking such a long, demanding test. There are of course small fluctuations throughout the years, but the overall trend is clear. There are also notable gaps in the performances of students from different socioeconomic and ethnic groups that show no signs of closing.

Though they, too, have shown similar variations in numbers, it hasn't been as bad as the SAT numbers. On the other hand, they do show differences based on the ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds of the test takers. Due to the nature of the test or due to different demographic profiles among test takers, from to overall average SAT scores fell a total of 34 points, down in each of the three sections tested.

You'll notice a sharp increase in section scores in , but this is partly due to the SAT's massive redesign; thus, we won't be able to use these scores for our comparison until we have more years' data with the redesigned SAT format. According to the demographics table, from to the average scores for white students stayed about the same.

Similarly, most other groups witnessed no change or decreases from to Note, though, that before , Asian Americans were combined with Pacific Islanders. Access to quality education, not ethnicity, might explain a significant portion of the racial gap. This can include variations based on whether the student completed a core curriculum or not, and whether they had access to SAT prep. Many students believe that the SAT doesn't accurately reflect what is taught in schools today.

The decision to institute changes to the SAT in may have been due to this disparity between what is taught and what is tested; it could also have been due to the loss of market shares to the ACT.

Critics say that the SAT measures a student's background and access to resources including test prep more than it predicts a student's likelihood of success at the college level. Actually, those two points might correlate because the students that receive this sort of help are also more likely to receive the support they need in college from their families. While it's true there is variation in scores with respect to race and income, it is still something that can be overcome by the student with both dedication and practice.

Struggling with a low SAT score?