Interpreting SAT Scores
Help your students learn how to interpret their SAT score and find out what the numbers mean. To view scores, students can sign in to their online account.
SAT Score Structure
- Total SAT score: 400–1600
- Reading and Writing Section: 200–800
- Math Section: 200–800
- SAT Essay: Three scores ranging from 2–8
| SAT Score Reported | Details | Score Range |
|---|---|---|
| Total score | Sum of the 2 section scores. | 400–1600 |
| Section scores (2) | Reading and Writing, and Math. | 200–800 |
| SAT Essay scores (3) | Reading, Analysis, and Writing. | 2–8 |
Putting Scores into Perspective
Score and score insights provide substantial feedback. Mean scores, score comparisons, percentiles, and benchmarks can help your students put their scores in perspective. Knowledge and skills performance can help identify strengths and weaknesses and see what skills need more practice. However, scores won't reveal if students passed because there's no such thing as a passing score.
What the Numbers Mean
Score ranges, benchmarks, mean (average) score comparisons, and percentiles can be used to see if your students are on track for college readiness.
Score Ranges
Score ranges show how much a student's score might change with repeated testing, assuming their skill level remains the same.
Usually, section scores for Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and for Math fall in a range of roughly 30 to 40 points above or below their true ability. Colleges know this, and they receive the score ranges along with scores to consider that single snapshot in context.
Mean (Average) Score Comparisons
Score information online show you the mean, or average, scores earned by typical U.S. test takers per grade. You can view the mean scores of testers at the student's school, district, state, country, and/or testers worldwide (as applicable). Unless a score is much lower than average, your students are developing the kinds of reading, writing and language, and math skills they'll need in college.
College and Career Readiness Benchmarks
The SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmarks reflect benchmark scores for both Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and Math sections. Students whose scores meet each section's benchmarks are considered college and career ready. That means if a score is at or above the benchmark, they're on track to be ready for college after high school.
Students can use the detailed feedback in their online score portal or speak with a school counselor about their scores to see which skills need the most improvement.
Percentile Ranks
A percentile rank is a number between 1 and 99 that shows how your students scored compared to other students. It represents the percentage of students whose scores fall at or below their score. For example, a test taker in the 57th percentile scored higher than or equal to 57% of test takers.
You'll see up to four percentiles:
- The Nationally Representative Sample percentile (available in the K–12 Student Roster only) compares your students' scores to the scores of typical 11th- and 12th-grade U.S. students.
- The All Tester Percentile compares their scores to the actual scores of all recent graduates (worldwide) who took the SAT during high school.
- The Country Percentile compares their scores to the actual scores of recent graduates in the student's country who took the SAT during high school.
- The State Percentile compares their scores to the actual scores of recent graduates in the student's state who took the SAT during high school. This is available to U.S. testers only.
Retaking the SAT Takes Practice
As you and your students learn more about scores, let them know that many students take the SAT for the first time in the spring of their junior year and again in the fall of their senior year. Students usually do better the second time.