What is a Good Sabbatum Score for 2022? (And 6 Steps to Go One)

Bonus Cloth: SAT Score Ranges for 499 U.S. Colleges

What is a good SAT score? And how practice you go i?

Our students ask these two questions all the time. But answers to them tin can vary widely, depending on who you ask.

In this post, nosotros use upwards-to-date industry data to define a expert Sat score for 2022.

Yet nosotros won't leave you hanging there.

We as well give insight into what makes for a good SAT score for you personally . Plus, we outline 6 actionable steps for getting closer to that target score.

Students who have the time to figure out their personally peachy SAT scores are more likely to achieve college admissions success.

We also requite readers access to the SAT score ranges of competitive applicants to the tope 499 U.S. colleges, which you lot can download below.

Hither's what nosotros encompass:

  1. Our 2 Information-Backed Definitions of a "Skillful SAT Score" for 2022
  2. How Many Questions Y'all Demand to Get Right to Achieve a Good Saturday Score
  3. "Bad" SAT Scores — Exercise They Exist?
  4. 6 Steps for Getting a Proficient SAT Score (that you can easily outset today)
  5. Bonus : SAT Score Ranges for 499 U.S. Colleges

Your Guide to a Good SAT Score for 2022

Students taking the Saturday for the get-go fourth dimension often ask these two questions:

  1. What's a good Sabbatum score?
  2. What practice I need to practice to get a good Saturday score?

That outset question can be tough to answer. After all, "expert" is a relative term, right? And isn't every single SAT technically different?

Yes and yes.

That's why it'due south then important to define what we actually mean by a "good SAT score." We take ii definitions for this.

Our 2 Definitions of A Good SAT Score

  1. "Good" is anything that is "above average" with sectional scores and percentile rankings
  2. "Adept" is anything that will await competitive on a college application

Let'due south offset with the first definition.

Good Saturday Score #1: The "Above Average" Saturday Score

Average Saturday Scores

With this definition, in very basic terms, a expert SAT score for 2022 could be anything above 1060 . This was the average national composite Sat score for the graduating class of 2021.

A good Saturday Reading and Writing score could be annihilation higher up 533  and a practiced SAT Math score could be above 528 , based on the same data released by the CollegeBoard in its 2022 annual report.

Percentiles

Only we like to exist more precise than this.

Remember that an SAT score—composite or section—always comes attached to a percentile ranking. This percentile indicates the percentage of comparison students an individual test-taker out-performed.

There are 2 comparison groups: "SAT Users" (actual Sabbatum test-takers from the classes of 2022 and 2021) and a "nationally representative sample," weighted percentiles derived from a inquiry written report of 11th and twelfth grade U.Southward. students.

Because these comparison groups are different, the percentiles are likely to vary, as you can come across in this sampling below:

What is a Good SAT Score?

A student who scores 1080 on the SAT in 2021, for example, will likely have a composite percentile of 78 (nationally representative sample) and 72 (SAT user percentile). This means that this student out-performed roughly 72-78% of SAT test-takers across these two comparison groups.

SAT scores are also unremarkably normally distributed. This means that the bulk of students' composite SAT scores hover around the middle of the curve. Far fewer scores appear on the college or lower end of the SAT score range between 400 and 1600.

Normal Distribution Curve_SAT Scores

The centre-of-the-road (or median) SAT composite percentile is the 50th. Students in this percentile range out-performed 50% of all test-takers and nether-performed 50% of all test-takers. Students with a 1080 SAT composite are in this 50th percentile.

What does this hateful?

Students who score higher than 1080 on the Sat are in a higher place average nationally from a percentile basis. These students likewise concur a 51% or college SAT percentile.

Thus, a good Sabbatum score on a national scale is higher up 1080.

Skillful Sabbatum Score #2: The Higher Competitive Sabbatum Score

Permit's non forget about one major reason for taking the Sat: college entrance!

In the context of college entrance, i pupil's "good" Sabbatum score could be vastly unlike than another pupil's. Information technology but comes downwardly to where you are applying and the average Sabbatum scores of admitted applicants.

So, nosotros similar to say that, nether this definition, a "practiced SAT score" is the 1 that is right for you given your college aspirations. This volition probably be close to the Saturday scores of admitted applicants.

If a student is aspiring to attend a highly selective institution like Princeton University, for example, a "good" SAT score likely surpasses the 90th percentile.

Enough of universities specify score ranges and percentiles of successful applicants on their websites (although some are non public with this information).

About practise and then past specifying the "Center l," or the 25th and 75th percentile of accustomed students' Sat scores— this is not to be confused with SAT score report percentiles!

Here'south a sampling of the Centre 50s from diverse elite institutions:

College 25th Percentile Reading and Writing Score 75th Percentile Reading and Writing Score 25th Percentile Math Section Score 75th Percentile Math Section Score
Yale University 720 770 740 800
Vanderbilt Academy 710 760 750 800
Amherst College 650 740 660 750
Pomona College 690 750 700 790
Princeton University 710 770 750 800
Brown University 700 770 740 800
Barnard College 670 750 670 770

Source: The National Center for Education Statistics IPEDS (2019)

When researching competitive applicant SAT scores, continue in mind range .

Successful Vanderbilt applicants, for example, often have an SAT Reading and Writing score of 710-760. Successful Barnard College applicants have an SAT Reading and Writing score between 670 and 750.

Those ranges are actually significant. Yes, the higher your score in these cases, the improve. Merely, technically, students on the lower end of these ranges all the same earned acceptance!

South ome institutions have exam score and/or GPA cut-offs for scholarship considerations. Review these requirements alee of time to place score ranges for eligible applicants.

What is a Good SAT Score_ (2) (1)

What well-nigh schools that don't explicitly land the average Sabbatum scores of admitted applicants on their websites?

There's a workaround.

Many colleges also release what is called a Mutual Information Set, which presents data related to admitted applicants' exam scores and more than.

Princeton University's CDS , for example, includes the 25th and 75th percentiles of SAT scores likewise as the per centum of 2019-2020 freshman students with specific Sat score ranges.

Based off of this information, nosotros can conclude that a competitive Sat score for a Princeton applicant would fall within these ranges:

  • Reading and Writing: 710-770
  • Math: 750-800
  • Composite: 1470 – 1560

You can also just download these SAT Score Ranges for 499 U.S. Colleges, which includes the virtually recent data virtually Saturday performance of competitive applicants.

What This Means In Terms of Questions

How many questions do you have to get correct on the Saturday to earn a score that is above boilerplate (as per our first definition of a good Sabbatum score)?

Every SAT examination is scaled for difficulty in a procedure the Higher Board calls "equating." We discuss this more than in our guide to scoring on the SAT.

Because no ii SATs are alike, it'southward difficult to translate the 2022 average SAT scores into total correct questions .

It is possible to generalize, however, which nosotros have done in the following table.

Department Average 2022 Score Average Questions Right
Evidence-Based Reading + Writing 533 ~46-52 questions right (out of 96)
Math 528 ~21-38 (out of 58)
Full 1060 ~67-90 questions (out of 155)
Data based on raw score conversion tables for College Board Official Practice Tests one-8.

Notice that boilerplate SAT operation boils downwards to getting just about (or over) 50% of all questions correct.

What is a Bad SAT Score? (Does it Be?)

Is there such a thing as a bad Sabbatum score? Kind of.

A "bad" Sabbatum score often misses the mark of what the College Lath has chosen college and career readiness. These scores are typically below-average in comparing to the mean.

They may also non meet the benchmark scores the Higher Board has established in terms of college preparedness, especially with respect to content areas. These benchmark scores vary according to grade (from eighth grade to 11th class).

For the purposes of this commodity, we'll focus on the benchmark scores for college and career readiness.

  • Evidence-Based Reading and Writing: 480
  • Math: 530

Students who run across these benchmarks will see a green checkmark next to their scores. A yellow circumvolve with an exclamation point indicates that a student has non met a benchmark for a given department.

Source: The Higher Board , Agreement Sabbatum Scores

So, if yous score below 480 on Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and 530 on Math, you're technically earning a "bad" Sabbatum score. But remember 3 things:

  1. Every college volition accept different standards when information technology comes to SAT scores of admitted applicants
  2. 530 on Saturday Math is actually above average (on sectional scores) compared to 2022 boilerplate Sat scores
  3. You can have the right steps for increasing your SAT score (with the tips nosotros're about to talk about)

six Steps for Getting a Adept SAT Score (that yous tin can hands start today)

Now we get to answer that third question mentioned in the intro to this post: What do I need to practice to get a good SAT score?

1. Take a diagnostic SAT.

It's hard to figure out your destination if you don't know where you are starting in the first place!

Take a diagnostic Sabbatum practise exam to pinpoint where your skills currently lie. In fact, this is the offset thing we accept our students practice when they sign upward for any PrepMaven SAT test prep programme.

A benchmark prepare of Sat scores is essential for creating reasonable goals. And reasonable goals are critical for reaching your target SAT score.

You can find 10 FREE Official Sat Practice Tests here.

We also recommend checking out our guide to self-proctoring your showtime Saturday practice exam—it's of import to replicate Test Twenty-four hours conditions as much as possible in society to generate accurate results.

ii. Make sure the SAT is actually the right exam for you.

You heard that right.

The Saturday might not exist the exam for y'all, depending on the results of your diagnostic Sabbatum. Some students are improve suited for the ACT, the other standardized test used in college admissions.

Colleges accept both tests equally, but it'south of import to prep for the test guaranteed to give you lot the highest score.

The ACT and Sat are like in some means. But they are also vastly different in others. To see which test is right for y'all, ask these 5 questions now.

If you're simply curious about the ACT, our post on the ACT's general format will give y'all a good overview of what to expect with this test.

We can also help students figure out which test to pursue in a gratuitous test prep consultation.

three. Build a general college list.

You might not exist sure exactly where you'd like to apply to higher.

That'south okay!

Almost high school students solidify their college lists the summertime or fall of their senior years.

However, to truly know what a adept Saturday score looks similar for you, a general college listing is essential. This list can help you lot identify ballpark SAT score ranges for competitive entry, which we talk about in the side by side step.

If you aren't able to pinpoint exact colleges, think in terms of tier:

  • Tier 1: Ivy League Schools (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc.)
  • Tier 2: Extremely Selective Schools
  • Tier 3: Highly Selective Schools
  • Tier 4: Selective Schools
  • Tier 5: Moderately Selective Schools
  • Tier 6: Somewhat Selective Schools….. etc.

We recommend choosing iii tiers of schools, arranged every bit follows, and at least 2 schools for each of these tiers (total of vi):

  1. Safety schools (you know you'll probably get in)
  2. Competitive schools (odds are neutral)
  3. Reach schools (a "reach" to earn acceptance)

Of class, students will want to go along building this college listing equally they progress with their SAT examination prep. For now, however, a general list of at least half dozen schools will exist sufficient to get to the next step.

4. Investigate college score ranges.

In one case y'all've assembled your full general higher list (with at least 6 schools), it'due south time to cheque out the average Sabbatum scores of admitted applicants to these institutions. Y'all have a few resource for this:

  • The college's website itself
  • The most contempo Common Information Ready for that college (if possible)
  • National Center for Education Statistics IPEDS
  • PrepMaven's Saturday Score Ranges for 499 U.South. Colleges

Remember to keep in listen score ranges of admitted applicants and 25th / 75th percentiles (if applicable) every bit you lot practice this research.

Let's say that you want to research the SAT score ranges for applicants accepted to Fordham University.

Fordham does specify exam score ranges on its website (non all colleges do this):

We tin can too back this up with information from Fordham's Common Data Ready from 2018-2019:

Do this for all 6 schools on your general list.

5. Place your target Saturday score

Sat examination prep without a target score is like a transport without a rudder. A target Sat score is essential for 2 things:

  1. Setting goals
  2. Figuring out your test prep timeline

Before setting your target SAT score, we encourage yous to:

  • Take a diagnostic Saturday practice test
  • Assemble a full general college list

A physical target SAT score tin mean the difference betwixt a mediocre score and a expert score. Why? You are more probable to accomplish your goals in life if they are:

  • Specific
  • Time-oriented and
  • Realistic

In fact, students who don't choose a target Sat score at the commencement of their test prep are less probable to be successful in their journey.

6. Take your time

The SAT is vastly unlike from traditional loftier schoolhouse tests. Much like a 2d language, it requires dedication, immersion, and time to understand and eventually master.

Thus, it's important to give your test preparation time . The Sat is not a examination that students can cram, and nor should it take a side-burner in a student's college awarding procedure.

Allocate a generous timeline for sufficient Saturday test prep, and stick to it!

Download SAT Score Ranges for 499 U.S. Colleges

We've compiled the SAT score ranges of successful applicants to the top 499 U.Southward. colleges in 1 uncomplicated document, which you can download for complimentary below!

Here'southward what you'll get with this handy resource:

  • Middle l Sat composite scores for the top 499 U.S. colleges and universities
  • Middle 50 SAT sectional scores for Reading & Writing and Math
  • Acknowledge rate for each higher
  • All based on the most recent available data (2019)

Kate_Princeton Tutoring_AuthorBio Kate

Kate is a graduate of Princeton Academy. Over the last decade, Kate has successfully mentored hundreds of students in all aspects of the higher admissions process, including the SAT, Human action, and college application essay.