SAT Scores

Your 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).

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 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 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).

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 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

To improve your SAT scores, try our Free SAT Practice Tests.