What's a Good Digital SAT Score?

Last updated: July 22, 2026

"Good" depends entirely on where you're applying, but the honest short answer: nationally, anything above about 1200 puts you ahead of most test-takers, 1350+ is competitive at most selective schools, and 1450+ starts opening doors at the most selective ones. Here's the full picture, based on College Board's most recent national data (Class of 2025, 2M+ test-takers).

Score-to-percentile chart

Composite Score	Nationally Representative Percentile	Rough read
1600	99+	Perfect / near-perfect
1500	99	Elite
1400	97	Highly competitive
1300	92	Very strong
1200	81	Solidly above average
1100	67	Above average
1050	58	Slightly above average
1000	48	Right around the national average
900	29	Below average
800	14	Well below average

What "nationally representative" means: these percentiles are based on all U.S. 11th and 12th graders, not just students who chose to take the SAT. That makes them a bit more generous than "test-taker percentiles," which compare you only to other people who sat the exam (a self-selected group that skews college-bound). Score reports typically show both.

The national average right now

For the graduating Class of 2025, the national average composite score was 1029 (521 Reading and Writing, 508 Math). That's your true baseline: cross 1030 and you're already at or above the median test-taker nationally.

What counts as "good" actually depends on your target schools

State flagship / most public universities: a 1100–1250 range is typically competitive.
Selective private and out-of-state publics: aim for 1300–1400+.
Highly selective (top-30-ish): the admitted-student middle 50% usually falls somewhere around 1450–1560, though holistic review means a strong score alone isn't a guarantee.
Ivy-plus / most selective: 1500+ is common among admits, alongside the rest of the application.

Always check the specific school's mid-50% range (published on their admissions site or in their Common Data Set) rather than relying on generic tiers, it varies more than people expect.

How to know where you'd actually land

A percentile chart tells you what a score means once you have it. The more useful question while you're prepping is: what would I score on a full, realistic, adaptively-routed test right now? That's harder to answer from practice material that reuses the same handful of official tests, since your score creeps up from familiarity, not real improvement.

Get an honest read on where you stand

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Curious how the test actually decides which questions you see? Read how Digital SAT adaptive testing works, or see our honest comparison of Bluebook, Khan Academy, and adaptive practice for where to actually practice.

SAT® and Digital SAT™ are trademarks of the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse this product. Percentile and average-score data above are drawn from College Board's publicly released Total Group reports and score-scale documentation; figures are approximate and may shift slightly year to year.