What Is a Good SAT Score?

There is no single good SAT score, because there is no pass mark. A good score is one that sits comfortably inside — or above — the range of students admitted to the colleges you want. That said, some national reference points help.

What each range means nationally

These are approximations from College Board's published percentiles, which shift slightly each year. A total a little over 1000 is roughly the national middle.

Setting your own target in three steps

1. List five to ten colleges you would genuinely attend, from reach schools to safer choices.
2. Look up the middle 50% SAT range for each one on its admissions page or its Common Data Set. That is the range of the middle half of admitted students who submitted scores.
3. Take the 75th percentile — the upper number — of your top choices. Scoring at or above it makes your score a strength rather than something to explain.

Superscoring

Many colleges superscore: they take your best Reading and Writing score and your best Math score, even from different test dates, and add them together. If you score 640 + 700 in March and 690 + 660 in May, a superscoring college sees 690 + 700 = 1390. That makes a second attempt much lower-risk than it sounds. Policies vary, so check each school.

Test-optional colleges

Many colleges let you choose whether to submit a score. A reasonable rule: submit if your score is at or above the school's middle 50% range, and consider holding it back if it is well below. Some scholarship and honors programs still want scores even where admission does not.

Section benchmarks

College Board publishes a college-readiness benchmark for each section: 480 in Reading and Writing and 530 in Math. These are the scores associated with a strong chance of passing a first-year college course in that subject. They are a floor worth clearing, not a target for a competitive application.