SAT College Entrance Exam Scores Down on Average But Up For Some Groups September 2, 2009
Ian Welham reviews SAT performance among student groups.
Results released last week by the College Board show that national SAT scores for the class of 2009 were down slightly from the previous year, on average. However, among some groups, SAT scores increased dramatically.
Through the 1990s and early 2000s, average scores on the SAT college entrance exam rose steadily. Over the last five years, they’ve fallen back.
Last year’s seniors earned a combined score of 1509 on the three sections of the exam. That’s two points lower than the average 2008 score. Math scores held steady, while average reading and writing scores fell one point each.
That means the average SAT college entrance exam score has decreased nine points since 2006. That’s the year the writing section was first added and the test moved from a combined 1600-point scale to a combined 2400-point scale.
In New Jersey, the year-over-year SAT numbers look like this:
| Year | Critical Reading | Mathematics | Writing |
| 2008 | 502 | 515 | 494 |
| 2009 | 501 | 515 | 493 |
Nationally, the good news is that more—and more diverse—students are taking the SAT exams. For example, of the 1.5 million high school students who sat for the test, minorities represented 40% of the group. More significantly, over 25% of the test-takers reported English was not their first language.
That’s exciting news. However, there seems to be a widening scoring gap between the best- and worst-performing groups.
The average combined SAT score for Asian Americans jumped 13 points to a combined 1623, while average scores for whites (down 2 points to 1581), black students (down 4 points to 1276) and Hispanic students all declined. Men scored 1523 on average compared to 1496 for women, an increase of 3 points (mostly in math).
Scores of students from families earning over $200,000 rose to 1702, a whopping 26-point increase from last year. Such a dramatic increase may give credence to the notion that test-preparation tutoring gives students a distinct advantage, because upper-income families are the most likely group to enroll their children in test-prep courses.
