<p>Anyone who has hung around College Confidential for more than a few days has probably read one of the countless threads from students and parents concerned about whether or not they can get into a "good" college with "average" SAT scores. Invariably "average" means <1400/1600 and "good" means USN&WR Top 50. </p>
<p>The real average SAT scores in the country, as noted in the article, are:
502 (CR), 515 (M) & 494 (W).</p>
<p>As a New York resident I was disturbed, although not surprised, that the average New Yorker scored even lower and that scores dropped year-over-year once again: 488 (CR), 504 (M) & 481 (W). New York City students scored lower yet: the average kid in the city could not break 900 on the CR & M sections. </p>
<p>So for you who scored a mere 1900 (out of 2400) on the SATs -- you may be many things, but you are certainly not "average." Except, perhaps, on College Confidential.</p>
<p>...it is also important to keep in mind that sat-takers themselves are a rather self-selected group, so even an 'average' sat score of 1020 is indicative of above-average performance.</p>
<p>In our upper middle class suburban high sch.(in the south), the SAT average hovers around the 1000/1600 mark. It is a diverse sch. with the top ten kids usually making CC type scores but the vast majority are in the average range. Many of those average range scorers fill the seats of honors and AP classes. No one seems to be aghast at the results.<br>
Most of the kids, including high scorers, go to one of our state u's and are happy there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reality check! In our mediocre public hs, last year there was one National Merit finalist in a class of over 450, no semifinalists, one commendation winners. Most of the top kids go to the flagship state university and most of the average kids to a lower tier state university, comminity college, a job, or the military. In the past two years at least, no one from this hs has gone to an Ivy.</p>
<p>have discovered that only about half the college-eligible students (students who are admitted to college) are really college-ready (able to complete college courses and not drop out academically). I will definitely advise all of my four children to study consistently so that they can beat the low average level of scoring on the SAT and the ACT. Learning to read, write, and do math better is never a bad idea in any occupation.</p>
<p>I was just at a Borders and walked through the Young Adult section. What I saw really scared me. The books were so simplistic, so silly - this really isn't what Young Adult fiction meant a few years back when my girls were younger. It made me think about our state SAT scores reported in the paper today and think - Oh, this is why the kids score so low - they really aren't even as good of readers as they were a few years ago when we were all worried for them.</p>
<p>Beyond getting into colleges or winning scholarships, I think the nation does need to pay attention to the SAT and ACT because they may not be perfect but they do a pretty good job of showing us longitudinally where we are heading. It isn't looking good. If the average person in our population is barely scoring over 500 in CR on the SAT then we are - as they like to say - "at risk" as a nation.</p>
<p>Our average seems to be in decline despite what these ridiculous "state testing" instruments are telling us.</p>
<p>PackMom, you probably got the same email that I did this week, with the performance of all bazillion high schools in the school district we're both part of. Count me in as one of the "aghast" ones. D's high school is one of the least diverse schools in the district, which also leads it to have the second highest average. Still, that number is suprisingly low. Also, we're starting to get some of the overall AP results coming in.....which confirms that there are a lot of kids in the AP courses who really aren't prepared to handle the course material. Both D's have come home with some really, really scary stories about the knowledge level of some of their classmates.</p>
<p>
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If the average person in our population is barely scoring over 500 in CR on the SAT then we are - as they like to say - "at risk" as a nation.
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</p>
<p>Aren't the SATs normalized every few years such that the average score will be a 500?</p>
<p>Which is why I don't think comparing average scores from one year to the previous year really offers much insight. How far off the average is from 500 probably has more to with the normalization process than any change in the performance level of the students.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If the average person in our population is barely scoring over 500 in CR on the SAT then we are - as they like to say - "at risk" as a nation.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The test is intended for the average to be around 500.</p>
<p>Our area has SAT average scores above the nation's ... but our average ACT for the area is on the low side. Why? Because only the few top students who are looking at elite schools bother to take the SAT. There aren't many sites & it's hard to get a spot to take the test. The vast majority take ACT only.</p>
<p>If you accept that 90-100 is an A, wouldn't it follow that a score of 1287/1600 or 1930/2400 (90th percentile) would be the equivalent of an A average? Isn't that where grade inflation comes into play and people find out that they are not as prepared as they thought they were?</p>
<p>The ironic thing is that at the CC elite HSs, the kids who are NMFs are sometimes in barely in the top 1/2 of their graduating class in grades (my S was one of those). </p>
<p>It is scary that many people don't have much reading comprehension, even those with "advanced degrees," to say nothing of the general public This translates into so many problems, including health literacy, especially for folks with chronic diseases. This drives up costs of delivering educational messages that we are now told have to be targetted to the 6th grade level (used to be for the 8th grade level). <sigh, very="" sad="" sign=""></sigh,></p>
<p>RacinReaver: That's right. Fortunately there is no failing grade for the SATs. The failing grade should be for the school systems that don't prepare the students adequately. Did you see the stats for the ACT that only about 24% of test-takers are prepared for college in all subjects?</p>