WASHINGTON - SAT scores among the nation's high school seniors remain stubbornly stagnant.
The College Board, the non-profit organization that administers the test, reported scores Tuesday from the Class of 2014 that were similar to other recent senior classes.
Overall, the mean score in reading was 497. It was 513 in math and 487 in writing. The top score in each category is 800, and 583 of the 1.7 million students from the class who took the test achieved the perfect score of 2,400.
About 43 per cent of test takers met a benchmark that indicated they were likely ready for credit-bearing, college-level work — a figure that has also remained about the same.
The benchmark was met by nearly 53 per cent of white and nearly 61 per cent of Asian test-takers. Nearly 16 per cent of African-American test-takers met the college-ready benchmark, as did nearly a quarter of Hispanic test-takers and about a third of Native Americans.
The SAT is undergoing major revisions, but the new exam won't come out until 2016.
The College Board said it has seen an increase in students taking not just the SAT but the Advanced Placement and PSAT/NMSQT exams. Passing an Advanced Placement, or AP, exam can earn test-takers college credit. The PSAT/NMSQT test can be used to help place students in AP classes.
The College Board said the percentage of public high school juniors and seniors succeeding on at least one AP exam nearly doubled in a decade to 13.2 per cent in May 2014.
But it said the findings show "missed opportunities."
While Hispanic students are now taking AP classes at almost the same rate as the nation overall, only about 13 per cent of African-American and 12 per cent of Native American public high school juniors and seniors took an AP exam in May 2014.
Nearly 40 per cent of students who were identified by their PSAT/NMSQT scores as having potential for succeeding in an AP course did not take one they were matched to, the College Board said.
