Understanding SAT Percentiles (2025)

If you’re planning to take the SAT, it goes without saying that to get a good score, you need to know the math and verbal concepts that it tests. But you also need to understand SAT test scores and SAT percentiles (2025). You can use them to understand your overall and section performance. Additionally, you can estimate what a “good” score is. This will help you determine your competitiveness for admission to your desired schools. You can also use the score percentiles strategically to set your target score, allocate your study time, and help you decide if you should retake the SAT.

Here are the topics we’ll cover:

• The Digital SAT Score Report
  • Your Total Score and Basic Statistics Section
  • Section Scores with Detailed Feedback
• The SAT Total Score Percentile Chart
  • What Is a “Good” SAT Percentile Score?
• SAT Section Score Percentiles
  • Understanding Your Section Scores
• Key Takeaways
• What’s Next?

The Digital SAT Score Report

You can see your digital SAT score report about 2–4 weeks after your test date. You can access your complete report by logging in to your College Board student account. Then click on the “My SAT” tab and click on “View Scores.”

Your electronic score report will consist of several pages, but the most important is the first one. The first page summarizes your overall performance. It also provides detailed feedback about your performance in the Math section and the Reading and Writing section.

Let’s look at the features of an SAT score report by looking at a sample published by the College Board. (Note that some of the percentile scores in this sample report do not align with published SAT percentile tables. However, the SAT score interpretation of these numbers is still valid.)

Let’s assume that this is your score report and take a look at parts of the first page in greater detail.

Your Total Score and Basic Statistics Section

Your Total Score: At the upper left in large bold font is your total score: 1120. This is the sum of the Reading and Writing section and the Math section scores.

The SAT Score Range: To the right of the total score, the numbers “400 – 1600” remind you of the range of values for the SAT total score. This gives you an overall feel for how well you did compared to the lowest and highest possible SAT scores.

Your Percentile Rank: The number (enclosed in a box) to the right of the score range tells you your score percentile. In this example, your percentile rank of 75 indicates that you scored better than 75% of the students who took the SAT. The asterisk to the right of the percentile indicates that your percentile rank compares to the scores of all 11th graders who took the SAT in the past 3 years.

Your Score Range: Just below your SAT total score is your Score Range. In this example, the numbers are 1080 to 1160. They indicate what your score could be expected to be if you took the test several times on separate days.

Average Score (All Testers): This is the average SAT total score of all students who took the SAT in the past 3 years.

KEY FACT:

Overall SAT score statistics are presented on the first page of your SAT Score Report.

Section Scores with Detailed Feedback

Look just below the Total Score information on the first page of your score report. You will see your individual scores for the Reading and Writing section and the Math section. The format and interpretation of these scores are identical to that of the total score information covered earlier. We see that this example shows a Reading and Writing score of 620, which is in the 60th percentile. The Math section score is 500, which is in the 70th percentile.

Look to the right of the section scores. You will see a graphical progress bar for each of the 8 content domains tested on the SAT. The number of filled-in bars for each domain indicates the level of mastery attained for that domain. You will also see additional information about the percentage and number of questions covering each domain.

There are 4 content domains in the Reading and Writing section. They are Information and Ideas; Craft and Structure; Expression of Ideas; and Standard English Conventions. There are also 4 content domains in the Math section. They are Algebra; Advanced Math; Problem-Solving and Data Analysis; and Geometry and Trigonometry. You can get more details about the content domains by reading this article.

KEY FACT:

You can find detailed feedback on the content domains for the Reading and Writing section and the Math section.

The SAT Total Score Percentile Chart

We have already mentioned that your SAT percentile score indicates the percentage of students who scored less than you. Here is a detailed SAT percentile chart that provides you with exact percentages corresponding to your total score.

Adapted from SAT User Percentiles — College Board Research

What Is a “Good” SAT Percentile Score?

There is no such thing as a “good” SAT score. You may have heard the phrase “It’s all relative.” That is the case with the SAT. What a “good” or “great” SAT score is depends on the colleges you want to attend and how selective they are. For example, at MIT, a “good” SAT score is 1520, which is the 98th percentile! However, a “great” score for MIT is 1570, which is in the 99+ percentile. MIT is one of the most selective colleges, so the SAT scores of applicants are very high.

What we can learn from the MIT example is that “it’s all relative.” A spectacular score like 1520 at nearly any other school would be your golden ticket. However, at MIT, it’s in the lower 25% of applicants’ scores. So, the lesson here is that you have to balance your score against the admission data for your desired schools.

The top 20 schools in the U.S., such as Columbia or Vanderbilt, generally desire a minimum 1500 SAT score. This is still in the stratospheric 98th percentile. However, if your sights are a bit lower, you can be competitive with a “good” score as low as 1300 (86th percentile) for highly regarded schools such as Purdue or Ohio State. 

Let’s go lower on the percentile ranks to a score of 1030 (50th percentile). This rank means you scored better than half of all students who took the SAT. Many schools would be quite satisfied to accept a student who scored in this percentile. For these schools, an SAT score of 1030 is considered “good.” It’s all relative!

KEY FACT:

There is no single “good” or “great” SAT score — it all depends on the schools you want to attend.

SAT Section Score Percentiles

You can use these section score percentile tables to see how you have performed individually in the Reading and Writing section and the Math section.

Adapted from SAT User Percentiles — College Board Research

Understanding Your Section Scores 

Don’t spend all your time and effort on interpreting only your SAT total score. Many colleges look carefully at the section scores as well. Consider the following scenario:

You have earned a highly respectable total score of 1400, which is at the 93rd percentile. Great score! But what if that score comes from a Reading/Writing score of 800 and a Math score of 600? While you’ve earned the highest verbal score possible, your math score is in the “measly” 76th percentile! This is not so good. While a host of schools would eagerly recruit you based on your overall score, and you might qualify for a plethora of scholarships from that great total score, you have a distinct disadvantage in being accepted at some of your most selective schools.

Why? Because an unbalanced score indicates a relative weakness in your background. The schools might focus more on your relatively poor performance in math than your total mastery of verbal. Consider another applicant with the same 1400 total score but a balanced 700 score on each section, which is about the 90th percentile on each. If we compared your scores to those of that applicant, their scores would likely compare more favorably than yours.

Whether the imbalance comes from a disproportionately high Reading/Writing score or Math score, you would be well-advised to consider a retake of the SAT, with a focus on improving your weaker subject score to attain a more balanced score.

TTP PRO TIP:

Aim for a balance between your verbal and math scores.

Key Takeaways

• Your digital SAT score report is available in your SAT account 2–4 weeks after your test date.
• The first page of the report summarizes your overall performance and provides feedback on your performance in the Reading and Writing section and the Math section.
• Your percentile rank indicates how well you did in comparison to other test takers.
• There is no single score that is considered “good” or “great.” Competitive SAT scores are all relative, based on the admissions criteria of the schools you wish to attend.
• Most colleges prefer section scores that are relatively balanced. That is, your two section scores should not differ significantly.

What’s Next?

You now better understand the role of SAT score scale percentiles. Now it’s time to concentrate on getting the best score possible!

Read our article about the Reading and Writing section to maximize your SAT verbal score.

Read our article about the SAT Math section to learn what’s covered and how to crush SAT math.

To learn more about SAT score analysis, you can also view the College Board’s video “Understanding Your Digital SAT Score Report.”

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