FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1999

Madison's SAT Scores Top State, National Marks

Madison's high school seniors continued to perform well on standardized collegiate admissions exams, outpacing their state and national peers on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The district's students average composite score was 1248, nearly 6 percent higher than the 1179 composite average for Wisconsin seniors, and almost 19 percent higher than the 1016 national composite.

The composite score is a combination of the results from verbal and math parts of the test, each worth a possible 800 points – or 1600 total. Madison seniors also outperformed their state and national peers on the American College Test (ACT) released recently.

The number of Madison students taking the SAT dropped slightly in 1998-99 (from 384 students to 371), paralleling a similar decrease at the state level (4,362 students to 4,295). Only about 26 percent of Madison's seniors took the SAT. Nearly 70 percent of Madison seniors took the ACT – a record number. Beginning with the freshman class in the fall of 2000, the UW Board of Regents will allow students to take either the ACT or SAT for admission to the UW, possibly affecting the number of students taking the SAT.

SAT Mean Scores by Subtest
Verbal
Year      Madison        Wisconsin      US
1998-99   609            584            505
1997-98   614            581            505
1996-97   616            579            505
1995-96   608            577            505
1994-95   600            574            504

Math
Year      Madison        Wisconsin      US
1998-99   639            595            511
1997-98   640            594            512
1996-97   631            590            511
1995-96   621            586            508
1994-95   619            585            506

Composite
Year      Madison        Wisconsin      US
1998-99   1248           1179           1016
1997-98   1254           1175           1017
1996-97   1247           1169           1016
1995-96   1229           1163           1013
1994-95   1219           1159           1010

Madison Metropolitan School District

Public Information Office
545 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53703
608-266-6270
email: newsrelease@madison.k12.wi.us

Last Modified: 1999-08-31
HTML Editor & Publisher: Chris Burch, cburch@madison.k12.wi.us
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