SAT math scores hit record 520 average

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The Class of 2005 scored an all-time high in math on the SAT examination that many U.S. colleges use for admission, the College Board said Tuesday.

The average SAT math score rose 2 points from 2004 to 520 in 2005. The average score by males was 538 and the average score for females was 504.

The nationwide average verbal score, however, was flat at 508. Male scores averaged 513 and female scores averaged 505.

College Board President Gaston Caperton said he is encouraged by improved math scores, but the flat verbal scores demonstrate "the need to redouble efforts to emphasize the core literacy skills of reading and writing in all courses across the curriculum starting in the earliest grades."

South Carolina and Georgia shared the 2005 SAT cellar with combined scores of 993 vs. the national average 1028, the Columbia (S.C.) The State and Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

A record 1.47 million students took the 2005 SAT.

The Class of 2006 has started taking the new version of the SAT, on which scores will be released a year from now.