2
4 years ago
Admissions Advice

What is the average SAT score?

My son isn’t close to qualifying yet because he’s only in the 10th grade. I wanted to know the average SAT and ACT scores so he can strive towards what is desired.

SAT
ACT
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9
🎉 First post
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@LaurenC.4 years ago

I am a nervous wreck over this! He has a good GPA-3.9, but seems like most schools want to see at least 1400 on SAT's. I know he can get help with that when the time comes. Also seems they want to see AP or IB classes as well. He is interested in; Clemson, Emory, Duke, Baylor, Berkley... A good undergrad for Pre Med. I wanted to know what he needed to strive towards these schools. Or if he even has a shot, and to which ones, realistically. Input appreciated!!!! Thank You!

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5 answers

3
4 years ago

The colleges both you and he are targeting are considered T25-T75 schools.

So for the ones closer to T75 say that ranked 60th to 75th you want a SAT score of 1200- 1350 and an ACT of 29-32, schools like Baylor

For the ones ranked from 40th to 60th, more like 1300-1400 or an ACT of 31-33

For the ones ranked from 25 to 39th, you want 1400-1500 or an ACT of 32-34, this would be Emory, UC Berkeley

Duke is a top 10 school so that's the exception. You want a 1550 or a 34 ACT

For prep,

1.) Use Khan academy for online prep

2.) If Khan doesn't work, then use SuperTutorTV online prep.

3.) If that doesn't work, then get a specialized SAT tutor

For books

Get the College Panda series, like every book 5 or 6 of them including practice test

Erica Meltzer's Critical reading book is a must

For math tweaking John Chung's match practice book (hardcore but very good)

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3
4 years ago

So 1060 is the average SAT Score. However, this sort of score won't get you into most colleges.

So, (as per SuperTutorTV) here are the score ranges and what kind of colleges you can get into.

1000-1100 (around average):

- CSU Northridge, CSU Fullerton, New Mexico State (state schools, local schools)

1100-1190 (slightly above average):

- Rutgers, UMass Boston, Louisana Tech (state schools for the most part)

1200-1300 (top 150 schools)

- University of San Diego, University of Iowa, (higher-level state schools, some private schools)

1300-1400

- Ohio State, UCSB, UCSD, University of Florida (top state schools, some prestigious schools like the UC System)

1400-1500

- Worchester Polytechnic Institute, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, UCLA, UC Berkeley (very prestigious schools outside Ivy League)

1500-1600

- Any top school

Some disclaimers

- For engineering school, colleges really like high Math scores, and usually require scores much higher than the average

- SAT is only one of many parts of the college application process. Even if your SAT score is below the average for a school, still apply, because of other factors like GPA, letters of recommendation, and essays matter.

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3
4 years ago

So, I'm in 10th grade as well and I've recently started to ask myself these questions as well. From what I've heard recently the average SAT score is a 1060, while the highest score is a 1600. From all my research however, top schools want higher scores. I know for the Ivy League the average scores are from 1470-1510 or something like that. I'm not sure about ACT scores

3
1
4 years ago

It depends on what colleges he is currently looking at. If he isn't planning on going for an Ivy/Top 100 school, a score ranging from 1000-1200 is about average.

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1
4 years ago[edited]

For the ACT, I believe the national average is around a 21; however, some states are significantly higher like Connecticut where it's 25.5. Since your son is still in 10th grade and has time, I would say to strive for a 30 on the ACT. Pretty much anything above a 27 is a solid score, so if he's aiming for a 30 he'll land somewhere in the right range. If either of you has certain schools in mind look up the average scores and give or take a couple of points because there is some leeway depending on the strength of other aspects of his application. For a strong school such as the University of Washington the typical score range is from 27-32 whereas for an Ivy like Princeton it's around 31-35, from what I've seen state schools usually hover somewhere above a 24. In my opinion, a 30 is very much achievable for a motivated and willing student. Focus on his strengths, speed, and concentration and take tons of practice tests. Hope this helped!

1
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Unweighted GPA: 3.7
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4.0
SAT: 720 math
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800
| 800 verbal
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