What Is a Good SAT Score? A Bad SAT Score? An Excellent SAT Score? – What SAT Score is Good 2022? (Excellent and Bad SAT Score) Percentile…
This article can assist you in determining what SAT score is acceptable. This page is intended to assist students in determining the exact SAT score required to gain admission to any college.
The SAT is one of the most popular admission criteria in the United States, and it is required when a student applies for freshman or transfer undergraduate admission at any university or college.
We’ll go over how to figure out how your SAT scores compare to those of other test-takers in this article. Then, based on the institutions you’re interested in, we’ll help you figure out what a good SAT score is for you. Finally, we address what to do if your SAT score is lower than you expected and present SAT score ranges for 43 notable colleges.
What’s a Good SAT Score Overall for College Admission?
What’s a Good SAT Score Compared to the Entire Country?
Your overall SAT score ranges from 400 to 1600, with each of your two section scores ranging from 200 to 800. One element is Math, and the other is Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, which is a combined Reading and Writing score (EBRW).
As you can guess, the higher your score, the better you performed in comparison to the other exam participants. Is there, however, a specific SAT score cutoff that defines a “good” score?
To figure out what makes for strong SAT results in comparison to others, you must first understand how SAT scoring works. A percentile ranking correlates to your overall score out of 1600 (as well as your two section scores out of 800). Your SAT percentile indicates the percentage of students who scored the same as or higher than you on the SAT. For example, if you received a 60th percentile score, you outperformed 60% of all test participants!
SAT Score Gradings
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| Percentile | EBRW | Math | TOTAL | Remark |
| 99th (Best) | 760 and above | 800 | 1520 and above | Best SAT Score Range |
| 90th (Excellent) | 670-680 | 690 | 1350 | Good SAT Score Range |
| 75th (Good) | 600-610 | 600 | 1200-1210 | Good SAT Score Range |
| 50th (Average) | 520-530 | 520 | 1040-1050 | Average SAT Score |
| 25th (Poor) | 450 | 440 | 890-900 | Poor SAT Score |
| 10th (Poorer) | 390-400 | 370-380 | 780 | Bad SAT Score Range |
| 1st (Poorest) | 330 and below | 310 and below | 670 and below | Very Poor SAT Score Range |
Obtaining the above-mentioned SAT score is an excellent SAT score for freshman and transfer admission to any US college.
The top 25 most selective colleges/universities in the United States, together with their SAT Score requirements for entrance and acceptance rate reports, are included in the table below.
Selective Colleges and their SAT Score Requirments
Note: Submitting of test scores is optional in some colleges in the United while some colleges do not completely require test scores for undergraduate admission, except English Proficiency Test scores for International applicants.
The table below lists the top 25 prestigious schools and institutions in the United States, along with their SAT score requirements. To see the SAT, ACT, and Grades required for admission in 2022, click any of the universities mentioned below.
| Name of College/University | SAT Score Range (25th/75th Percentile) | Acceptance Rates |
| UCLA | 1280 – 1530 | See UCLA Acceptance Rate |
| Harvard | 1460 – 1570 | Check Harvard Acceptance |
| Princeton | 1460 – 1570 | See Princeton Acceptance |
| Columbia | 1450 – 1570 | See Columbia Acceptance |
| Stanford | 1440 – 1570 | See Stanford Acceptance Rate |
| MIT | 1510 – 1570 | MIT Acceptance Rate Here |
| Uchicago | 1500- 1570 | Uchicago Acceptance Rate Here |
| Yale | 1460 – 1570 | Yale Acceptance Rate Here |
| Penn | 1450 – 1560 | Penn Acceptance Rate Here |
| Johns Hopkins | 1470 – 1570 | Johns Hopkins Acceptance Rate Here |
| Caltech | 1530 – 1560 | Caltech Acceptance Rate Here |
| Northeastern | 1440 – 1550 | Northeastern Acceptance Rate Here |
| Duke | 1480 – 1570 | Duke Acceptance Rate Here |
| Vanderbilt | 1460 – 1560 | Vanderbilt Acceptance Rate Here |
| Rice University | 1470 – 1570 | Rice Acceptance Rate Here |
| Dartmouth | 1440 – 1560 | Dartmouth Acceptance Rate Here |
| Brown | 1440 – 1570 | Brown Acceptance Rate Here |
| Cornell | 1400 – 1560 | Cornell Acceptance Rate Here |
| WUSTL | 1480 – 1560 | WUSTL Acceptance Rate Here |
| Emory | 1360 – 1530 | Emory Acceptance Rate Here |
| USC | 1360 – 1530 | USC Acceptance Rate Here |
| Notre Dame | 1400 – 1550 | Notre Dame Acceptance Rate Here |
| UC Berkeley | 1310 – 1530 | UC Berkeley Acceptance Rate Here |
| UMichigan | 1340 – 1530 | UMichigan Acceptance Rate Here |
| George Town | 1380 – 1550 | George Town Acceptance Rate Here |
How to Get a Perfect 1600 SAT Score, by a 2400 Expert Full Scorer
The SAT has a maximum score of 1600. Only approximately 500 students out of the two million who take the test each year receive the maximum possible SAT score. This coveted perfect score propels you to the pinnacle of high school academic performance and can give your college applications a significant boost.
At the top end of the scoring range, the SAT is not forgiving. You need to aim for perfection.
Specifically, here’s what you need to do in each section:
- In Reading, you can only miss 1 or 2 questions. This depends on the curve for that test. It’s best to aim for missing 0 or 1 question. In my test, I missed 1 reading passage question.
- In Math, you need to get every question correct. No question about it. The curve is unforgiving for Math. Miss 1 question and you won’t get an 800 on this section.
- In Writing, you can sometimes miss 1 question at most. In some tests, you have to get a perfect Writing and Language score to have a shot at an 800.
Essentially, you need to aim for perfection during your prep. If you’re consistently missing one or more questions on each section, you’re not performing consistently enough to be safe for a 1600. We’ll go into more detail about this below.
- Step 1: Do High-Quality Practice and Avoid Low-Quality Materials
- Step 2: Focus on Quality First, Quantity Second
- Step 3: Be Ruthless About Understanding Your Mistakes
- Step 4: Find Patterns in Your Weaknesses, and Drill Them to Perfection
- Step 5: Eliminate Careless Errors
- Step 6: Develop Amazing Study Habits
- Step 7: Get Fast Enough to Always Double Check Your Answers
- Step 8: Don’t Get Inside Your Own Head During the Test
Is 1380 a good SAT score? Yes, SAT score of 1380 is good to get into any college.
Is 1250 a good SAT score?
1250 SAT score is a good SAT Score to get into Colleges. A 1250 SAT score falls under the 81st percentile. Almost all Colleges/universities accept students with this score range.
Is 1200 a good SAT score?
A 1200 SAT Score is considerable. This score is acceptable by less competitive Colleges and Universities. Such a score places you in the 74th percentile of all the students that partook in the test.
Is 1000 a good SAT score?
A SAT score of 1000 is bad for admission. Very few colleges consider such scores for admission. Such scores place you in the 35th percentile of all the students that took the test.
Is a 1400 SAT score good?
A 1400 SAT score is good. It places students in the top 95th percentile of the total students that took part in the test. This score is acceptable by almost all Universities/Colleges.
Is an 1140 SAT score good?
A SAT score of 1140 is considerable. It places you in the 66th percentile of all the students that took part in the test.
Is 800 a good SAT score?
A SAT score of 800 is extremely low for Universities/Colleges to consider. This score place students in the bottom 9th percentile of the total students that took the test.
Is 950 a good SAT score?
A SAT score of 950 is bad. Such scores put you below the 31st percentile of all students that partook in the exam. It is very low for many colleges/Universities to consider for admission.
Is 1100 a good SAT score?
A score of 1100 is just an average. This score places students a little, above the 50th percentile of all partakers of the test.
SAT Score FAQs
Yes, a 1470 is a good SAT score. It places you in the top 98th percentile nationally out of the 1.7 million test takers of the SAT entrance exam. The score indicates you’ve done an exceptional job answering the questions on the Math and Evidence-Based Reading & Writing sections of the test.
For comparison purposes, a 1470 on the SAT converts to a 33 on the ACT based on the College Board / ACT concordance. Not all colleges report both SAT and ACT score admission data so you should check our comparable listings for both standardized tests to find academically similar schools
Yes, a score of 1210 is quite good. It places you in the top 77th percentile nationally out of the 1.7 million test takers of the SAT entrance exam. The score indicates you’ve done a well above average job answering the questions on the Math and Evidence-Based Reading & Writing sections of the test.
A score of 1080 is a little better than average. It places you in the top 55th percentile nationally out of the 1.7 million test takers of the SAT entrance exam. The score indicates you’ve done slightly above average.
The highest score on the SAT is possibly 1600. The average of the colleges with the highest SAT score is 1476 which includes Carnegie Mellon, Harvard etc.
Hari scored 1600 in SAT and this is the highest SAT score ever recorded – not just that he also secured a perfect score of 36 in ACT as well. Also, Bill Gates scored a 1590 SAT score out of 1600, which is one of the best SAT scores. Who has the highest SAT score ever?
In March 2016, the SAT underwent a massive redesign, part of which included a change to its scoring system: it shifted from a 2400-point scale to a 1600-point scale.
Conclusion: So What’s a Good SAT Score for 2022?
There are three basic criteria to determine what constitutes high SAT scores in 2022.
One method is to look at the national average of 1060. Any result above this mark is considered positive, as it indicates that you outperformed the majority of test takers.
Looking at SAT score percentiles, which compare your performance to that of other test takers, is another way to define good SAT scores. In comparison to other pupils, the higher your percentile, the better you did. The 50th percentile (1040-1050) is considered ordinary, whereas the 75th percentile (1200-1210) and 90th percentile (1350) are considered exceptional and excellent, respectively.
The final (and most crucial!) strategy to determine good SAT scores for 2022 is to determine what scores are appropriate for you depending on the schools to which you are applying. Look up SAT score data for each of your institutions; your target score will be the highest 75th percentile score—what is considered a good score for you and you alone.
