The SAT and ACT are accepted at virtually all U.S. colleges and universities and are used to predict how well a student will do in college.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — For a second straight year, SAT scores for the most recent high school graduating class remained at the lowest level in nearly a decade, a trend attributed to a record number of students now taking the test.
The 1.52 million students who took the test is a jump of nearly 30 percent in the past decade.
Minority students accounted for 40 percent of test-takers, and 36 percent were the first in their families to attend college.
Nearly one in seven had a low enough family income to take the test for free.
“You only had the best of the best taking the test,” Jim Hull, said. “The SAT has become far more inclusive.”
Hull is a policy analyst for the Center of Public Education, affiliated with the National School Boards Association.
The class of 2008 scored an average of 515 on the math section, a performance identical to graduating seniors in 2007.
The past two years represent the lowest reading average since 1994, they scored 499.
The highest average reading score in recent decades was 530 by the class of 1972.
The latest math average is just five points below the 35-year high of 520, reached three years ago.
Those historical highs are tempered by the test’s more selective reach a generation ago, Hull said.
For the second year in a row, the average score on the writing test was 494 — a three-point drop from its debut year in 2006.
Many colleges are waiting for several years of data before factoring the writing test into admissions decisions.
The College Board released data Tuesday suggesting that scores on the writing portion are the most accurate gauge of first-year success in college.
Nearly 800 colleges consider the SAT an optional test for admissions, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.
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