Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and Reasoning Test (SAT I) Scores and Characteristics of College-Bound Seniors statistics

[For school year ending in year shown. Data are for the SAT I: Reasoning Tests. SAT I: Reasoning Test replaced the SAT in March 1994. Scores between the two tests have been equated to the same 200-800 scale and are thus comparable. Scores for 1995 and prior years have been recentered and revised]


Type of test and
Characteristic	Unit	1967	1970	1975	1980	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999


AVERAGE TEST SCORES ¹

Verbal, total ²	Point	543	537	512	502	509	509	507	505	504	500	499	500	500	499	504	505	505	505	505
Male	Point	540	536	515	506	514	515	512	512	510	505	503	504	504	501	505	507	507	509	509
Female	Point	545	538	509	498	503	504	502	499	498	496	495	496	497	497	502	503	503	502	502
Math, total ²	Point	516	512	498	492	500	500	501	501	502	501	500	501	503	504	506	508	511	512	511
Male	Point	535	531	518	515	522	523	523	521	523	521	520	521	524	523	525	527	530	531	531
Female	Point	495	493	479	473	480	479	481	483	482	483	482	484	484	487	490	492	494	496	495

PARTICIPANTS

Total ³	1,000	(NA)	(NA)	996	922	977	1,001	1,080	1,134	1,088	1,026	1,033	1,034	1,044	1,050	1,068	1,085	1,127	1,173	1,229
Male	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	49.9	48.2	48.3	48.1	48.2	48.0	47.9	47.8	47.8	47.6	47.4	46.9	46.4	46.5	46.1	46.2	46.1
White	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	86.0	82.1	81.0	(NA)	78.2	77.0	74.7	73.0	72.0	71.5	70.4	69.4	69.2	68.7	68.0	67.0	66.9
Black	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	7.9	9.1	7.5	(NA)	8.7	9.2	9.6	10.0	10.5	10.4	10.8	10.8	10.7	10.8	10.8	11.0	11.1

Obtaining scores ¹ of--
600 or above:
Verbal	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	21.9	21.9	21.7	20.3	20.2	20.5	20.9	21.1	21.9	21.1	20.9	21.0	21.2
Math	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	20.4	19.6	19.9	20.4	19.7	20.0	20.7	22.0	23.4	22.7	23.4	23.7	23.7
Below 400:
Verbal	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	15.3	15.7	16.5	17.3	17.7	17.8	17.7	21.0	16.4	15.9	16.1	16.1	16.1
Math	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	15.7	15.4	15.4	15.8	16.5	15.7	15.7	15.5	16.0	16.0	15.2	15.3	15.7

Selected intended area of study:
Business and commerce	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	11.5	18.6	21.0	(NA)	23.1	23.1	22.3	20.9	18.9	16.8	15.0	13.8	13.3	12.8	12.8	13.6	13.8
Engineering	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	6.7	11.1	11.7	(NA)	11.1	10.2	10.1	10.2	10.4	10.5	10.2	9.4	8.8	8.5	8.4	8.6	8.5
Social science	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	7.7	7.8	7.5	(NA)	10.9	11.8	12.6	12.6	12.4	12.1	12.2	12.1	11.6	11.3	11.0	10.5	10.5
Education	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	9.1	6.1	4.7	(NA)	6.0	6.7	7.1	7.5	7.9	8.1	8.0	8.0	8.1	8.2	8.6	8.9	8.9
SAT average ¹ by high school rank:
Top tenth
Verbal	Point	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	585	590	588	591	589	588	586	585	585	586	585	591	591	589	590	590
Math	Point	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	581	589	591	595	595	596	596	595	596	597	597	604	606	606	607	607
Second tenth
Verbal	Point	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	524	533	532	532	530	530	526	525	525	525	523	528	530	529	530	530
Math	Point	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	518	530	529	532	532	533	533	532	532	534	534	537	539	541	543	541
Second fifth
Verbal	Point	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	491	500	498	495	495	493	490	488	490	490	488	492	494	494	494	494
Math	Point	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	481	492	489	489	491	491	491	490	492	493	494	494	496	498	500	499
Third fifth
Verbal	Point	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	449	460	460	458	457	454	450	450	451	451	450	453	455	455	454	455
Math	Point	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	433	443	442	443	445	445	444	444	445	446	448	447	448	451	453	452

NA Not available. 1 Minimum score 200; maximum score, 800.
2 1967 and 1970 are estimates based on total number of persons taking SAT.
3 996 represents 996,000.

Source: College Entrance Examination Board, Princeton, NJ, National College-Bound Senior, annual (copyright).

http://www.collegeboard.org/

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/284_scholastic_assessment_test_sat_and_reasoning.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.