# SAT & ACT- how did you score? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175 "2003-06-02T18:12:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/41 "2003-06-02T23:15:51Z")
Dang guys, you all are smart! We don’t take the SAT here, but I’ve taken the ACT 4 times or so, and my last score was 29. I still have at least one more time to go, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that 30, so hopefully I can get some scholarships. ---
**Author:** ![Phantomkat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9a140/32.png) [@Phantomkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantomkat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/42 "2003-06-02T23:17:30Z")
No ACT - I was always told it was considered easier than the SAT and the schools here in Cali don’t look at it as highly (but the teachers could have been full of poo so I don’t know) SAT - 1370 My score raised 100 pts in English but dropped 10 in Math. No studying, no prep…no retake. Good enough to get me into UCLA (from which I’m graduating on June 13th Woohoo!) so I was happy ---
**Author:** ![ace22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@ace22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ace22)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/43 "2003-06-02T23:24:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ShibbOleth \* > **Wow, you’re my doppelganger.** Sorry to rain on your parade, but I am pretty sure I did better on the math section of the SAT than the verbal. 😉 My GRE scores, since I’ve been putting them on grad school applications recently I can remember them: Verbal: 640 Quantitative: 780 Analytical: 800 Out of 800 on each section. It struck me as pretty easy, aside from the verbal section. Egad. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/44 "2003-06-02T23:28:47Z")
I knew it wouldn’t be a knockout for me: SAT 1985 Verbal: 720 Math: 650 Still the highest my school for wayward boys (no foolin’) ever had. GRE 1992: Verbal: 750 Math: 690 Analytical: 790 I could live with that. It sure made the grad advisors pay attention when my application sailed across their desks. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/45 "2003-06-02T23:45:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ace22 \* > \*\*Sorry to rain on your parade, but I am pretty sure I did better on the math section of the SAT than the verbal. 😉 > My GRE scores, since I’ve been putting them on grad school applications recently I can remember them: > Verbal: 640 > Quantitative: 780 > Analytical: 800 > Out of 800 on each section. It struck me as pretty easy, aside from the verbal section. Egad. \*\* Well, maybe we’re each others mirror image, then. I don’t recall my exact GREs, just that they were high, maybe mid or higher 700s in each section. I don’t think that any of the three were 800s, though. I’d probably remember that, lo these many years later. **Vixenation** , you’re dealing with two phenomena here: 1. Serious Doper geekdom. 2. Most of the people who post in this thread are going to have higher scores, or they might think twice about posting. Sort of like the IQ threads, who is going to post on a brainy message board that they have a low IQ. Low grades can be a bragging point (“I never applied myself in school”), but test scores are often taken as raw indicators. A more random distribution of Doper test scores would still skew high (most likely), but would be more in line with the general population. Personally, I think they’re an indication of people who test well. I’ve known many people smarter than me with lower test scores because of test anxiety. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/46 "2003-06-02T23:51:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duckster \* > \*\*It might help to include the year you took either test as well. > > Why? > > IIRC the score system was readjusted to reflect a general decline in scores. So folks who took the test before the readjustment would actually score higher using today’s test standards. > > (Still looking for the cite.) \*\* Here’s one source: > [@](#): > > _[Originally from the Center for Education Reform](http://edreform.com/press/960822sa.htm) August 1996 press release:_ > > Why did they artificially recenter the scores to 500 if not to boost grade inflation? In previous years, students scores were predicated on the number of questions that were correct. A perfect 1600 could only be made by getting every question right. Now up to four questions can be wrong and a student would still get a 1600. In addition, last year’s average of 428 on verbal and 482 on math has been recalibrated according to the new scores to 504 and 506 respectively, thus not showing the wide gap between performance on the two disciplines. Thus students from this day forward – and the media, and colleges – will have no real means of comparison on which to gauge what someone’s 1985 score of 510 means compared to today’s score of 510. > According to College Board graphs, both original and recentered scales show that 1972 was the highpoint for SAT scores. Precipitous drops through the early eighties were followed by modest increases in the mid-eighties, another decline from ‘86-’91 has been followed by marginal gains from 1994 through today. > > SAT scores, even with the inflationary measures, are still roughly 25 points below the 1972 high in verbal, and a few points lower from their 1972 high in math. ---
**Author:** ![ace22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@ace22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ace22)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/47 "2003-06-03T00:12:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ShibbOleth \* > **Well, maybe we’re each others mirror image, then.** Fine by me. 🆒 > [@](#): > > **Personally, I think they’re an indication of people who test well.** Absolutely. Even though my scores were damn good, I never felt I could compare to my friends who were in the same testing results bracket as me. I’m just really good at taking tests - an ability that netted me four gold medals at a local computer olympics, three of them on multiple choice tests whose subject matter I only had a vague idea about. Or maybe it was all rigged. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/48 "2003-06-03T00:38:40Z")
I took the SAT in 1980 and got 690 Math 690 Verbal I was almost prouder of getting the same score for both parts than I was of the overall score! PSAT scores were 700M, 720V. I took the Biology Acheivement exam at some point and got a 730. Never took the ACT. I took the GRE (not the GMAT, as I mis-posted in another recent thread) in about 1988. I don’t remember my scores, but I do remember the percentiles for each section 94% Math 94% Analytical 99% Verbal Not bad for a science geek. ---
**Author:** ![lillyflower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@lillyflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lillyflower)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/49 "2003-06-03T00:48:24Z")
Ok well I will be the first to post a BAD SAT score, it was a ummmmm…ok this is sad…ummmm…OK it was a 1060:( but that is ok because i got into a decent college anyway, and I love it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/50 "2003-06-03T00:50:11Z")
Hell, I seem to recall the **average** the year I took it was something like 840. Nothing to be ashamed of there. ---
**Author:** ![Amazingrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@Amazingrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazingrace)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/51 "2003-06-03T00:52:25Z")
ACT: 28 1st time, 33 2nd SAT: 1270 1st time, 1270 2nd time, 1340 3rd time Both taken in 2002 My boyfriend beat me on both tests. He scored a 34 and a 1460. When our guidance counselor handed him his ACT score, she prefaced it by saying, “This is the highest score I have ever held in my hand.” That motivated me to get a 33 the second time. ---
**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/52 "2003-06-03T01:06:00Z")
ACT: 32 (Perfect in Science, 35 in Math, 29 and 28 on the misc junk) SAT I: 1470, I think. SAT II: 760 in Chem and Physics, “Testing Irregularity” in math. Those two scores that worked barely got me into the 80th percentile, and considering how much I wanted the head of whoever made the chem, I’d say either I was lucky and knew nothing or a lot of people were just plain lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Arien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arien)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/53 "2003-06-03T01:13:24Z")
SAT: 1300, math: 620, verbal: 690 Not so great, but not awful, either. I wish I had studied or taken it again. Also, I wish I took the ACT, since I do pretty well in science. Maybe then I would have been offered scholarship money, but maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Kyann22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a4c791/32.png) [@Kyann22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyann22)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/54 "2003-06-03T01:17:25Z")
ACT: 26 first time (sophomore year), 32 second time(junior year). SAT: No universities in our state really asked for these scores. They all seemed to base scholarships and such on ACT scores. Thus, that is all we were instructed to take! ---
**Author:** ![Pablito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@Pablito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablito)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/55 "2003-06-03T01:22:09Z")
SAT: 1440, way back in 1981. We had 23 national merit semifinalists in my high school class of 90-something students. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/56 "2003-06-03T01:33:47Z")
SAT 1360: 640 Math and 720 Verbal ACT 32 took both in 1995 ---
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/57 "2003-06-03T01:38:54Z")
**Lillyflower** , fear not. I did far, far worse. **I didn’t break 1000 on the SAT.** ---
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/58 "2003-06-03T01:39:59Z")
I think I have the lowest so far…and I didn’t want to be shamed into not posting, so here goes: I took the SAT last month, and got an 1150. (I’m _horrible_ in math, and had to get up early to take the damned thing; I blame these factors for my averageness. Oh, and this was also my first shot at it, and I’m a only Junior. [That’s right, I’m just pouring it on 🆒]). I haven’t taken the ACT as of yet. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/59 "2003-06-03T01:45:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pablito \* > \*\*SAT: 1440, way back in 1981. We had 23 national merit semifinalists in my high school class of 90-something students. \*\* That’s incredibly high. Do you mind saying which school? Was it a private prep school? Also, for some strange reason I seem to recall my PSAT scores as being something in the range of 200 or so. Not on the same scale as SATs. Has this also changed, or has the BSE finally gotten ahold of my brain? ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175/60 "2003-06-03T01:47:12Z")
From 1995; SAT: 1430 ACT: 33 SAT II: Physics 800, Math (II?) 800, Writing, 780 LSAT, 1999; 165 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sat-act-how-did-you-score/179175.md?page=4)