The source of dread for nearly 2 million high schoolers every year, the SAT, or Scholastic Assessment Test, is a three-hour juggernaut designed to test a student's abilities in reading, math, and writing abilities. Grade point average, extracurricular activities, and supplemental essays are all important factors in a college application; however, the SAT provides a way to compare students nationwide, no matter how grades are weighted or how many clubs exist at individual high schools.
The exam, however, has had its fair share of naysayers. Many point out that the SAT's narrow and rigid format reduces one's high school education to two subjects: English and math. There's also the issue of how household income impacts SAT scores, as students whose families can afford tutors and/or preparation courses and books consistently score higher on the exam. And then, of course, is the standardized test's history itself, with origins rooted in the eugenics movement.
To counteract some of the criticism, the College Board, which administers the SAT, made sweeping changes to the test in 2016, no longer requiring students to memorize archaic vocabulary and removing point penalties for guessing. However, calls to abolish the SATs continue.
About 2,000 universities did drop the SAT from application requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though many—including Ivy League schools like Brown University and Dartmouth College—have reinstated the testing component in their application process as of 2024, other universities have chosen not to follow suit.
To look closer at how SAT scores vary nationwide, Stacker referenced College Board data reported by PrepScholar to rank the states with the highest performance on the SAT, drawing on results from the class of 2024. Each state's average composite score is included along with the average scores in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW) and Math, as well as the participation rate, which indicates how many students in the state took the test. Certain places mandate high schoolers to take the test, leading to higher participation rates but lower scores overall; only states where at least 50% of students took the SAT were included. The data shows that average SAT scores are conversely correlated with the portion of students who take the test in each state (i.e., higher participation rates tend to yield lower average scores and lower participation rates seem to result in higher average scores).
With that in mind, read on to see where your state stacks up in mastering the SAT.
