What Is a Good SAT Score? Percentiles, Averages, and How to Set a Target

What is a good SAT score?

A good SAT score is one that helps you get into the colleges you want to attend. That is how College Board answers the question on its own scores page.

College Board also gives two reference points. The average SAT score is around 1050, so a higher score is above average. A score of 1350 or higher is in the top 10% of test takers.

Those numbers describe everyone who tests. Your own target depends on where you plan to apply, so use percentiles for context and college score ranges for the goal itself.

How is the SAT scored?

The digital SAT has two sections: Reading and Writing, and Math. Each section is scored from 200 to 800. Your total score is the sum of the two, so it runs from 400 to 1600.

Your score report also shows a score range around each score. College Board derives these ranges from the standard error of measurement. They show how much your score would likely move if you took a different form of the test under the same conditions.

College Board also sets a College and Career Readiness Benchmark for each section: 480 for Reading and Writing and 530 for Math. Each benchmark is tied to a 75% likelihood of earning at least a C in a related first-semester, credit-bearing college course.

What do SAT percentiles mean?

A percentile tells you the share of a comparison group that scored at or below your score. If your total is at the 75th percentile, 75% of that group scored the same as you or lower.

College Board publishes two sets of SAT percentiles on its research site:

• Nationally representative percentiles come from a research study of U.S. 11th and 12th graders. The results are weighted to represent all students in those grades, including students who don’t usually take the SAT.
• User group percentiles are based on the actual SAT scores of students who graduated in the past three school years.

Your official score report uses a third label, the All Tester Percentile, which College Board bases on the last three cohorts of SAT takers. Signed in to your College Board account, you can also see country and state percentiles. For your own score, the percentile on your report is the one to use.

What percentile is my SAT score?

This table shows selected total scores from College Board’s percentile tables, checked October 4, 2026. College Board’s page doesn’t list the graduating years behind the current tables. It describes the user group as graduates from the past three school years.

The two columns compare you with different groups, so the same score can land at different percentiles. College Board publishes section score percentiles on the same page if you want to check Reading and Writing or Math on its own.

How did the class of 2026 score?

College Board’s 2026 annual report covers 1,954,833 students in the high school class of 2026 who took the SAT. Their mean total score was 1045, with 528 in Reading and Writing and 517 in Math.

For that class, the 25th percentile total was 870, the median was 1030 and the 75th percentile was 1220. About 9% scored between 1400 and 1600.

How do I set a target SAT score?

1. List the colleges you’re considering. Include a range of selectivity.
2. Find each college’s SAT range for enrolled first-year students. Look on the college’s admissions site or first-year class profile. Many colleges also post a Common Data Set on their institutional research pages. College Board’s BigFuture shows average SAT scores of admitted first-year students at thousands of colleges.
3. Note the 25th and 75th percentile scores. Half of enrolled students scored between those two numbers, which is why it’s often called the middle 50%.
4. Pick a target. The middle of the range at the colleges you care about most is a practical goal. A score near the top of the range gives you more room.
5. Check each testing policy. Find out whether the college requires scores, makes them optional, or superscores. Our superscoring guide explains how retakes count.

A score below a college’s range doesn’t rule you out. College Board points out that your SAT score is one part of your application, alongside your grades, essays and activities.

How do PSAT scores relate to the SAT?

The SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10 and PSAT 8/9 share one score scale. The score ranges differ by test: the PSAT/NMSQT and PSAT 10 report totals from 320 to 1520, and the PSAT 8/9 reports 240 to 1440.

Because the scale is shared, a score means the same level of achievement on each test. College Board’s example: a student with a 500 Math score on the SAT would be expected to get 500 on the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10 or PSAT 8/9 if they took it the same day.

That makes a PSAT score a useful starting point for your SAT plan. It shows where you stand when you took it, not what you’ll score later. If you have a recent result, see what your PSAT score means. If you’re weighing the ACT too, compare scores with our SAT to ACT score converter.

Where does Hourly Prep fit?

Once you have a target, the work is closing the gap one skill at a time. Hourly Prep’s free plan includes one SAT practice test, one ACT practice test and short daily practice sets for both exams. Practice runs on a test-style screen, and every question has an explanation. The free plan also includes 3 PSAT practice tests.

Premium adds an adaptive study plan, an AI tutor, 30+ SAT practice tests, 10,000+ practice problems, score estimates, no ads, and study on the web. See SAT prep for details.

Whatever you use day to day, take College Board’s free full-length practice tests in Bluebook as your main progress check.

Common SAT score questions