| The Scholastic Assessment Test -- commonly known as the SAT -- is a three-hour exam that measures verbal and mathematical reasoning created and administered by the College Board, a not-for-profit association representing over 3,800 schools, colleges and universities.
Divided into math and verbal sections, there are three tests in each part, plus a seventh part containing test questions not used to calculate a student's final score.
The math section contains questions on arithmetic, algebra and geometry, while the verbal section tests reading comprehension, sentence structure and relationships between pairs of words.
Here are highlights about SATs:
A perfect score is 1600, 800 points for each section.
Statewide, the average score is 994; 496 for math, 498 for verbal.
A student who answers about half the questions correctly will receive the average score of 500.
Last year, 1.26 million students took the test.
In Pennsylvania, 70 percent of high school graduates have taken the SAT.
Only 4 percent of high school graduates in Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have taken the test.
The District of Columbia tops the list with 89 percent of graduates taking the test.
For the 1999-2000 school year, men scored 533 in math, compared to 498 for women.
The average math score for 1999-2000 reached 513, a 30-year high.
The verbal average remains stable at 505.
Source: The College Board
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