US students' SAT scores drop for third consecutive year

The average SAT score of American students is 1028/1600, down for the third consecutive year and the lowest in the past seven years, according to statistics from the test's owner.

The College Board, which owns the test, released its annual SAT score report for 2023, showing that more than 1.9 million people took the test, up more than 170,000 from last year. However, the average score dropped from 1,060 in 2021 to 1,028 on a 1,600-point scale. The average math score for American students was 508, and the reading and writing score was 520.

The score that most students achieved in the last two consecutive years was 800 - 990, accounting for about 31%. At the score of 1400-1600, only 7% of candidates achieved it, equivalent to 127,000 people.

Among the student groups, broken down by race, Asians performed the best. Specifically, this group scored an average of 1,219 points and accounted for 25% of students scoring 1,400 - 1,600. However, this number has also decreased consecutively over the past three years, following the general trend. In 2021, the average SAT score of Asian students was 1239.

TT	Point	Number of students achieved	Rate (%)
1	1,400 - 1,600	127,589	7
2	1,200 - 1,390	324,391	17
3	1,000 - 1,190	552,167	29
4	800 - 990	596,783	31
5	600 - 790	303,276	16
6	400 - 590	9,536

Crimson Education , aneducation consulting organization in the US, said that the scores dropped because many universities still maintain a policy of not requiring SAT scores, which was used during the Covid-19 pandemic. This number is about 1,900 universities across the US, according to statistics from the US Center for Fairness and Integrity in Testing.

Diane Rottensteiner, founder of the Huntington Carrollwood Learning Center in the US, believes that Covid-19 is also the reason why students' SAT scores are at record lows now.

"This year's students are the first to complete all three years of high school during the pandemic," she said.

The 2023 SAT report also shows the trend of using this test score for college admission. Business, Management, Marketing and Related Services attracted the most students, about 14%. Medicine had about 13% of applicants and Engineering was 10%. There were 12% of applicants who were undecided about their major.

Although the SAT and ACT are no longer required components of US university applications, many experts believe that candidates should still submit their scores if they score higher than 75% of test takers. Furthermore, some top schools such as Florida State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Georgia Institute of Technology... require standardized scores. Candidates with scores above 1400 will receive additional points when applying.

The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) was first introduced in 1926 and has gradually become widely used in college and university admissions in the US. From 2023, this test will be administered on computers at facilities authorized by the College Board. The test time is 134 minutes with 54 Reading-Writing questions and 44 Math questions.

Doan Hung (According to College Board, China Daily, US News)

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