On June 23, 1926, about 8,000 high school students across the United States took the first Scholastic Aptitude Test, known today as the SAT. That test looked very different than the one that about 2 million high school students now take each year.
The current SAT asks students to answer 98 questions – 54 in reading and writing and 44 in math – in 134 minutes total. In 1926, the test was much faster paced, with 315 questions in just 97 minutes. Students were told they probably wouldn’t get to every question, and over the next nearly two decades, the test developers steadily made the test shorter and extended the time limits.
The content of the SAT evolved over time, too. The test was originally modeled after the Army’s IQ test and intended to evaluate students’ intelligence for admission to elite colleges. In 1994, the test developers added math questions that required students to write in their own answer rather than selecting one of several choices. The developers also got rid of questions asking students to identify the antonym of a given vocabulary word, to move away from rote memorization.
The SAT has also evolved as technology has changed. The College Board, which oversees the exam, began to allow calculators in 1994. In 2024, it moved to fully digital testing using laptops or tablets. The digital test is adaptive, which means the questions are tailored to how well each student does on an initial set of questions.
How SAT scores have changed over time
Although the format of the SAT has changed and the exact questions vary year to year, it’s possible to compare many years of SAT scores in each subject area. That’s in part because the College Board “recentered” scores in 1994 to reflect not only the changes to the test, but also the fact that many more students from varying academic backgrounds were taking the test than in the 1930s.
However, several changes in 2016 – including eliminating the penalty for wrong answers – mean that SAT scores beginning that year are not directly comparable with those from prior years.
| Year | Reading | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 543 | 516 |
| 1968 | 543 | 516 |
| 1969 | 540 | 517 |
| 1970 | 537 | 512 |
| 1971 | 532 | 513 |
| 1972 | 530 | 509 |
| 1973 | 523 | 506 |
| 1974 | 521 | 505 |
| 1975 | 512 | 498 |
| 1976 | 509 | 497 |
| 1977 | 507 | 496 |
| 1978 | 507 | 494 |
| 1979 | 505 | 493 |
| 1980 | 502 | 492 |
| 1981 | 502 | 492 |
| 1982 | 504 | 493 |
| 1983 | 503 | 494 |
| 1984 | 504 | 497 |
| 1985 | 509 | 500 |
| 1986 | 509 | 500 |
| 1987 | 507 | 501 |
| 1988 | 505 | 501 |
| 1989 | 504 | 502 |
| 1990 | 500 | 501 |
| 1991 | 499 | 500 |
| 1992 | 500 | 501 |
| 1993 | 500 | 503 |
| 1994 | 499 | 504 |
| 1995 | 504 | 506 |
| 1996 | 505 | 508 |
| 1997 | 505 | 511 |
| 1998 | 505 | 512 |
| 1999 | 505 | 511 |
| 2000 | 505 | 514 |
| 2001 | 506 | 514 |
| 2002 | 504 | 516 |
| 2003 | 507 | 519 |
| 2004 | 508 | 518 |
| 2005 | 508 | 520 |
| 2006 | 503 | 518 |
| 2007 | 502 | 515 |
| 2008 | 502 | 515 |
| 2009 | 501 | 515 |
| 2010 | 501 | 516 |
| 2011 | 497 | 514 |
| 2012 | 496 | 514 |
| 2013 | 496 | 514 |
| 2014 | 497 | 513 |
| 2015 | 495 | 511 |
| 2017 | 533 | 527 |
| 2018 | 536 | 531 |
| 2019 | 531 | 528 |
| 2020 | 528 | 523 |
| 2021 | 533 | 528 |
| 2022 | 529 | 521 |
| 2023 | 520 | 508 |
From the 1966-67 through 2014-15 school years, the average overall SAT score fell from 1059 to 1006 out of a maximum of 1600, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. But the average score for the reading section declined much more than the average math score did.
In 1966-67, the average reading score was 543 out of 800, and the average math score was 516 out of 800. For the next 22 years, reading scores continued to top math scores. But in 1989-90, the average math score surpassed the average reading score for the first time. After that, math scores continued to outpace reading scores every year through 2014-15. That year, the average math score was 511 (5 points lower than in 1966-1967), while the average reading score had fallen to 495 (nearly 50 points lower than in 1966-67).
After the changes in 2016, students’ scores showed a similar pattern as they had in the late 1960s and early ’70s. The scores for the new reading and writing section were slightly higher than the scores for the new math section, but both sets of scores generally fell between 2016-17 and 2022-23, the most recent school year with available data.
How the ACT compares to the SAT
A rival college admissions test – the American College Test, now known as the ACT – emerged in 1959. Instead of measuring students’ intelligence for elite college admissions, it sought to evaluate their mastery of high-school-level concepts for admission to a broader set of colleges.
The two tests now have similar reputations and can each be used for admission to a wide variety of colleges. In the high school class of 2023, 51% of students took the SAT, and 37% took the ACT. (Some of those students took both tests, and others took neither.)
The ACT has four multiple-choice sections: English, math, reading and science. The science section became optional in 2025, and there has been an optional essay section since 2005. Together, the four multiple-choice sections ask students to answer 171 questions in 165 minutes. The test can be taken on a computer or on paper.
| Year | Composite | English | Math | Reading | Science |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 20.8 | 20.2 | 20.2 | 21.3 | 21.0 |
| 2000 | 21.0 | 20.5 | 20.7 | 21.4 | 21.0 |
| 2005 | 20.9 | 20.4 | 20.7 | 21.3 | 20.9 |
| 2009 | 21.1 | 20.6 | 21.0 | 21.4 | 20.9 |
| 2010 | 21.0 | 20.5 | 21.0 | 21.3 | 20.9 |
| 2011 | 21.1 | 20.6 | 21.1 | 21.3 | 20.9 |
| 2012 | 21.1 | 20.5 | 21.1 | 21.3 | 20.9 |
| 2013 | 20.9 | 20.2 | 20.9 | 21.1 | 20.7 |
| 2014 | 21.0 | 20.3 | 20.9 | 21.3 | 20.8 |
| 2015 | 21.0 | 20.4 | 20.8 | 21.4 | 20.9 |
| 2016 | 20.8 | 20.1 | 20.6 | 21.3 | 20.8 |
| 2017 | 21.0 | 20.3 | 20.7 | 21.4 | 21.0 |
| 2018 | 20.8 | 20.2 | 20.5 | 21.3 | 20.7 |
| 2019 | 20.7 | 20.1 | 20.4 | 21.2 | 20.6 |
| 2020 | 20.6 | 19.9 | 20.2 | 21.2 | 20.6 |
| 2021 | 20.3 | 19.6 | 19.9 | 20.9 | 20.4 |
| 2022 | 19.8 | 19.0 | 19.3 | 20.4 | 19.9 |
| 2023 | 19.5 | 18.6 | 19.0 | 20.1 | 19.6 |
Like SAT scores, ACT scores have generally declined over time, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). In 1994-95, the average composite ACT score was 20.8 out of 36. That fell to 19.5 in 2022-23. Scores in each of the four subject areas saw similar drops. In fact, average scores in all subjects were above 20.0 in 1995, but in 2022-23, only the average reading score was.
Unlike the SAT, the average ACT score has been higher in reading than in math for every year for which NCES has data.
Standardized tests’ role in college admissions
Many, but not all, colleges use SAT and ACT scores to help determine which students to admit. By 2000, nearly 300 colleges were test-optional, meaning students could decide whether to include SAT or ACT scores in their applications or leave them off. The number of test-optional colleges soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many testing centers closed, but some colleges have since made standardized test scores mandatory again.
Pew Research Center surveys have shown that many Americans support using standardized test scores for college admissions. In a December 2022 survey, 71% of U.S. adults said colleges should consider standardized test scores when deciding which students to accept. And in a March 2022 survey, 85% said standardized test scores should be either a major factor or a minor factor in college admissions.
