What Is a Good SAT Score

The SAT total score runs from 400 to 1600, made from two sections, Reading and Writing plus Math, each scored from 200 to 800. A good score is relative: it depends on the average score among test takers, your percentile rank, and the admitted-student range at your target schools. Each measure gives a different view of the same number.

This article breaks score levels into good, competitive, and elite bands based on percentile data, then shows how the average score, section balance, and superscoring change what a good number means for your applications. It also covers the College and Career Readiness Benchmarks and the way to turn practice-test raw scores into a scaled estimate. Use the bands as a general guide, then check each target school's own range for a precise target. See our guide to how hard the SAT is for realistic prep-hour ranges as you set a target.

Good, Competitive, and Elite SAT Score Bands

College Board publishes two percentile columns for every SAT total score, the Nationally Representative Sample and the SAT User Group. The SAT User Group percentile reflects the actual scores of the past three graduating classes who tested worldwide, so it is the closer match to your real competition. The Nationally Representative Sample comes from a research study of U.S. students in grades 11 and 12, including students who never sat the test, which is why its percentiles run higher. A percentile rank is the share of students in the comparison group who scored at or below your score. The table below groups scores into bands, from below average up to elite. For a full walkthrough of how percentiles work, see our guide to SAT percentiles.

A 1200 puts you in the Good band, ahead of about three quarters of test takers by the User Group percentile. A 1400 moves you into the Highly competitive band, the top 7 percent by User Group percentile. A 1500 or higher places you in the Elite band, among the top 3 percent of SAT takers and the top 1 percent of the nationally representative sample. Scores near 1010 sit at the middle of the distribution, close to the median.

How Your Target School Changes What Good Means

Percentile bands give a national view, but admissions decisions happen at each school, not against the full test-taking population. Colleges publish a middle 50 percent SAT range for admitted or enrolled students, from the 25th to the 75th percentile of the school's own class. Find this range on a school's admissions page or in its published Common Data Set.

A score at or above the 75th percentile mark for a school sits in the upper half of its admitted range. A score near or below the 25th percentile mark sits in the lower half. A 1300 might sit above the range at one school and below the range at another with a more selective admitted class. Compare your score, or your practice-test estimate, against the specific range for each school on your list before you decide a score is good enough. Many schools also tie scholarship money to score thresholds, so check those too.

The National Average SAT Score for Context

The national average composite score was 1029, drawn from more than 2 million takers in the class of 2025. The composite splits into an average of 521 on Reading and Writing and an average of 508 on Math. A 1200 target sits 171 points above the average, and the table above puts 1200 at the 75th percentile of the SAT User Group. Treat the average as a midpoint reference, not a goal. It marks the center of the test-taking population, so a good score for a selective school list sits well above it.

College and Career Readiness Benchmarks

College Board also sets a College and Career Readiness Benchmark for each section: 480 for Reading and Writing and 530 for Math. Meeting a benchmark predicts a 75 percent likelihood of earning a C or higher in a related, credit-bearing first-semester college course. Meeting both benchmarks marks baseline readiness, well below the Good or Competitive bands, so a good score always sits above this floor.

All Tester Average on Your Score Report

Your official score report also lists an All Tester Average, the average total and section scores of everyone who tested over the past three years, printed next to your own results. The same report carries an All Tester Percentile, the share of those testers who scored at or below your score. Read your total against the All Tester Average first, then check each section score against its own average. A score above both section averages and above the 50th All Tester Percentile puts you in the upper half of recent test takers. Use the bands above to turn the gap into the level your school list needs.

Section Scores vs. Composite Total

Your total score is the sum of two section scores, Reading and Writing plus Math, each on a 200 to 800 scale. Two students with the same 1200 total might arrive there in different ways: one with 700 on Reading and Writing plus 500 on Math, another with an even 600 and 600 split. The composite hides the split, so one number describes two different score profiles.

Section balance matters because the College and Career Readiness Benchmarks apply per section, not to the composite. A student below 480 on Reading and Writing or below 530 on Math misses the section's benchmark even with a high composite score, since a strong section cannot offset a weak one at the benchmark level. Check both section scores against the benchmarks, then against your target schools' typical ranges, before you judge a composite score good. For the mechanics behind the scale, read our guide to how SAT scoring works.

How Superscoring Changes the Score Colleges See

College Board does not calculate or apply a superscore. It provides Score Choice, which lets you control which test-date score reports get sent to a college, and each college decides on its own whether and how to combine your best section scores across dates. A superscore exists only inside a college's own review of the reports it receives.

Because superscoring policy varies by school, a good score for one college might not be the number another college weighs most. Check the policy on each school's admissions or testing page before you plan a second test date. See our guide to SAT retakes and superscoring for steps to check a school's policy and plan a retake around it.

Estimate Your Own Score

Practice test raw scores do not map to the 400 to 1600 scale one-to-one, since each test date has its own conversion table. Enter your raw results into our free SAT score calculator, no sign-up required, to get a scaled score estimate and see where it lands on the bands above. Our free SAT practice tests and drills supply the raw scores to enter.

Sources

• SAT Participation in the Class of 2025 Surpasses 2 Million Test Takers for the First Time Since 2020, College Board Newsroom
• Fall 2026 SAT Weekend Understanding Scores For Students and Families, College Board
• SAT User Percentiles, College Board Research
• What's an SAT Superscore?, College Board Blog