SAT ScoresSAT SCORES

Average SAT ScoresYour score on your SATs can be a critical factor in determining your acceptance at the college of your choice. Your SAT Scores are comprised of three items: your SAT Score, your percentile, and your score range.  Each of the three main sections (critical reading, math, and writing) is scored on a scale of 200-800.  Additionally, you will receive subscores for the essay (scale of 2-12) and multiple choice writing questions (scale of 20-80).

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Your test score is determined by first calculating your raw score, and then determining a scaled score.  Your raw SAT Score is determined by giving you 1 point for each correct answer and deducting ¼ point for each incorrect answer.  Your raw score is then “equated” to derive a scaled score.  A scaled score reduces the impact of different test versions and the students who take specific versions.

SAT Score RangeSAT Score Range

Your score range is an attempt to measure your true performance on the SAT Test.  The SAT Score Range represents an estimate of how your scores might vary if you were tested repeatedly.

Interpreting your SAT ScoresInterpreting your SAT Scores


The best way to understand your SAT Scores is by comparing them to other students and seeing what your preferred colleges require. The table below lists your percentile compared to other students.  For example, if you scored a 580 on your SAT Critical Reading score, this implies that your percentile score is 75 (i.e., you scored better than 75% of the other students who took the SAT Test).  For the most recent graduating class, the average (mean) SAT Scores were 502 for Critical Reading, 515 for Math and 494 for Writing.  Below the SAT Score Percetiles table is a listing of the SAT scores (25th and 75th percentile) for the top 200+ universities (based on enrollment).

SAT Score Percentiles
 
Score SAT Critical Reading SAT Math SAT Writing
800 99 99 99+
790 99 99 99
780 99 99 99
770 99 98 99
760 99 98 99
750 98 97 99
740 98 97 98
730 97 96 98
720 96 96 97
710 96 95 97
700 95 94 96
690 94 93 95
680 93 91 94
670 92 90 93
660 91 88 92
650 90 85 90
640 88 84 89
630 85 82 87
620 84 80 85
610 82 77 84
600 79 75 82
590 77 72 79
580 75 69 77
570 72 66 74
560 69 64 71
550 66 60 69
540 62 57 65
530 59 54 62
520 56 51 59
510 52 48 55
500 49 44 52
490 45 41 49
480 42 38 45
470 38 35 42
460 35 31 38
450 32 28 34
440 28 25 31
430 26 23 28
420 22 20 24
410 20 17 22
400 17 15 18
390 15 13 16
380 12 11 13
370 11 10 11
360 9 8 9
350 8 7 8
340 6 6 6
330 5 5 5
320 4 4 4
310 4 3 3
300 3 2 3

 Source: College Board (pdf)

SAT Scores for Top Universities (by Enrollment) 

 

Institution name
 SAT I Verbal   SAT I Math   Students submitting SAT scores  
  25th Percentile 75th Percentile 25th Percentile 75th Percentile Number Percent
Arizona State University 480 600 490 620 6215 65%
Ashford University 400 518 482 525 15 1%
Auburn University 500 600 520 620 850 20%
Ball State University 480 580 480 580 2709 71%
Boston University 580 670 600 700 3798 86%
Brigham Young University-Provo 570 680 580 680 1637 29%
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona 460 580 490 630 1900 94%
California State University-Fresno 400 520 420 540 2334 86%
California State University-Fullerton 440 540 450 570 3755 96%
California State University-Long Beach 440 560 460 590 3793 95%
California State University-Los Angeles 380 490 390 510 1949 95%
California State University-Northridge 400 520 410 530 4089 79%
California State University-Sacramento 410 530 430 540 2533 93%
Central Michigan University 450 568 450 605 61 2%
Colorado State University-Fort Collins 510 620 520 630 1337 30%
Columbia University in the City of New York 690 780 700 790 1282 92%
Cornell University 630 730 670 770 2907 88%
CUNY Hunter College 520 620 530 630 1549 87%
CUNY Queens College 490 580 530 610 1090 73%
DePaul University 530 640 520 620 503 20%
Drexel University 530 630 570 680 2735 87%
East Carolina University 460 550 490 570 4074 97%
Eastern Michigan University 430 580 450 580 155 8%
Florida Atlantic University 490 570 490 580 1949 58%
Florida International University 490 580 490 580 3066 67%
Florida State University 550 650 560 640 2745 45%
George Mason University 520 620 530 630 2054 77%
George Washington University 600 690 610 700 1788 75%
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus 590 690 650 740 2483 93%
Georgia Southern University 510 580 510 600 2862 79%
Georgia State University 500 590 500 600 2617 90%
Grand Valley State University 470 600 510 620 142 4%
Harvard University 690 790 700 800 1493 90%
Indiana University-Bloomington 510 630 540 650 5531 75%
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis 430 550 450 560 2547 83%
Iowa State University 460 640 530 670 414 9%
Johns Hopkins University 630 730 670 770 1152 85%
Kennesaw State University 500 580 500 580 2195 73%
Kent State University at Kent 460 570 460 580 1104 28%
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College 510 630 530 650 767 14%
Metropolitan State College of Denver 460 570 450 570 94 5%
Michigan State University 440 600 540 670 1026 13%
Middle Tennessee State University 400 510 360 570 191 6%
Mississippi State University 480 605 490 630 424 15%
Missouri State University-Springfield 490 630 510 650 71 3%
New York University 630 720 630 740 3507 75%
North Carolina State University at Raleigh 530 620 560 660 4391 93%
Northeastern University 610 700 640 730 1876 61%
Northern Arizona University 470 590 480 590 2352 61%
Northern Illinois University 445 550 470 580 80 3%
Northwestern University 680 750 700 780 1421 67%
Nova Southeastern University 460 570 470 590 479 72%
Ohio State University-Main Campus 540 660 600 700 2996 42%
Ohio University-Main Campus 480 600 480 590 1334 34%
Oklahoma State University-Main Campus 490 600 510 620 1118 29%
Old Dominion University 460 560 460 560 2555 93%
Oregon State University 470 600 490 620 2750 74%
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus 530 630 560 670 5851 81%
Portland State University 460 590 460 580 1014 68%
Purdue University-Main Campus 490 610 550 690 4841 73%
Rutgers University-New Brunswick 520 630 560 680 5839 96%
San Diego State University 480 580 500 610 3112 93%
San Francisco State University 440 560 450 570 3366 92%
San Jose State University 440 560 470 590 2634 95%
St John's University-New York 480 590 490 620 2917 94%
Stony Brook University 540 640 590 690 2308 92%
Syracuse University 510 620 540 650 2870 84%
Temple University 500 600 510 610 4074 95%
Texas A & M University-College Station 530 650 570 670 5614 65%
Texas State University-San Marcos 470 570 480 580 3316 71%
Texas Tech University 490 590 520 610 2687 60%
The University of Alabama 500 620 500 640 1200 21%
The University of Tennessee 520 640 530 640 848 20%
The University of Texas at Arlington 460 580 490 610 2318 90%
The University of Texas at Austin 540 670 580 710 6118 86%
The University of Texas at El Paso 390 510 420 530 1958 72%
The University of Texas at San Antonio 450 560 470 580 4144 84%
Towson University 490 580 500 590 2389 94%
University at Buffalo 500 610 550 650 2829 92%
University of Arkansas 500 610 520 630 1247 28%
University of California-Berkeley 600 730 630 760 3894 94%
University of California-Davis 520 650 570 680 4305 95%
University of California-Irvine 510 620 560 680 4273 96%
University of California-Los Angeles 570 680 610 740 4369 94%
University of California-Riverside 450 560 480 610 4354 97%
University of California-San Diego 540 670 610 720 3789 95%
University of California-Santa Barbara 540 650 550 670 3528 94%
University of Central Florida 530 630 560 650 3532 56%
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus 500 620 520 640 3429 87%
University of Colorado Boulder 520 630 540 650 2869 51%
University of Colorado Denver 470 610 480 620 218 20%
University of Connecticut 550 640 580 670 3080 93%
University of Delaware 540 650 560 660 4144 97%
University of Florida 570 670 590 690 4404 68%
University of Georgia 560 660 560 670 4281 90%
University of Hawaii at Manoa 480 580 510 610 1524 82%
University of Houston 480 590 520 630 3303 89%
University of Illinois at Chicago 450 600 500 650 143 5%
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 540 660 690 780 1761 24%
University of Iowa 450 630 540 685 395 9%
University of Kentucky 490 620 500 630 834 20%
University of Louisville 500 630 500 640 490 17%
University of Maryland-College Park 580 680 610 710 3685 92%
University of Massachusetts Amherst 530 630 560 650 4433 95%
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 630 730 670 770 2147 34%
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 540 690 610 740 817 15%
University of Missouri-Columbia 530 650 530 650 575 9%
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 510 660 520 670 346 8%
University of Nevada-Las Vegas 440 560 450 570 1850 64%
University of New Mexico-Main Campus 480 620 480 620 725 20%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 590 700 610 710 3762 95%
University of North Carolina at Charlotte 480 570 500 590 2832 95%
University of North Texas 480 600 500 610 3534 84%
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus 510 650 540 655 1436 35%
University of Oregon 492 607 499 611 3158 79%
University of Pennsylvania 660 750 690 780 2110 86%
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus 570 680 600 690 3388 90%
University of South Carolina-Columbia 530 630 560 650 2926 66%
University of South Florida-Main Campus 520 620 540 630 1884 54%
University of Southern California 610 720 670 770 2458 84%
University of Utah 490 630 513 650 444 14%
University of Virginia-Main Campus 610 720 630 740 3197 93%
University of Washington-Seattle Campus 520 650 580 700 4927 85%
University of Wisconsin-Madison 530 670 620 740 1226 21%
Utah State University 470 610 480 610 260 8%
Virginia Commonwealth University 480 600 490 590 3503 94%
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 540 640 570 670 4913 94%
Washington State University 470 580 480 600 3695 88%
West Virginia University 460 560 480 580 2297 47%
Western Kentucky University 430 550 430 580 95 3%

Source: National Center for Education Statistics/IPED data center

SAT Test and College RequirementsSAT Test and College Requirements


The table below summarizes the SAT Test requirements for public and private 4 year institutions.

 

Public 4-year institutions

Private 4-year institutions

SAT scores

 

 

Critical reading, 25th percentile

463

485

Critical reading, 75th percentile 

572

598

Mathematics, 25th percentile 

474

486

Mathematics, 75th percentile

584

599

 Source: US Department of Education

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