The Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Class of 2019 earned an average combined SAT score of 1119, a 48-point decline from last year’s results. The state of Maryland saw a drop in overall SAT scores as well.

Despite the decline in scores, participation rates increased across all student groups and MCPS graduates scored 78 points higher than their peers across the state. The SAT participation rate for graduates in MCPS and the state were 75.6 and 77.0 percent, respectively. From 2018 to 2019, there was a notable 9.9 percentage-point increase for MCPS graduates and the increase for graduates in the state was 5.0 percentage points.

The greatest improvement in participation rates was observed for African American (11.4 percentage points) and Hispanic/Latino graduates (17.8 percentage points).

“MCPS students perform at high levels on the SAT and we are pleased to see the continued growth in the number of students who take this important assessment,” said Superintendent Jack Smith. “Our collective work of engaging students in rigorous coursework and pathways is key to their success and we must continue to examine our efforts to ensure all students can participate, make progress, and perform at the highest levels.”

 Evidence-based Reading and Writing (ERW) and Math are the two section tests offered to measure students’ knowledge and skills on the SAT. Each section score ranges from 200 to 800, and the total score of the two sections ranges from 400 to 1600.

The College Board sets benchmarks for SAT ERW (480) and Math (530) to estimate college and career readiness. The SAT ERW benchmark indicates that a student has a 75 percent chance of earning a C or higher in first-semester, credit-bearing, college-level courses in history, literature, social science or writing. The SAT Math benchmark signifies the readiness for college courses of algebra, statistics, precalculus or calculus. Students are deemed ready to take or succeed in entry-level and credit-bearing college courses when they meet both benchmarks established by the College Board.

Detailed information on SAT participation and performance in MCPS can be found on the MCPS Data Dashboards.
 

SAT Participation

SAT Performance

SAT Participation and Performance by Student Group

SAT At A Glance