N.Y. SAT Scores Dropped Slightly in 2007

ALBANY — New York high school students planning to go college scored slightly lower in the SAT entrance tests last year than they did the year before.

The statewide average score in critical reading, formerly called the verbal test, was 488 in 2007, down from 491 a year before. The math score was 504, compared to 505.

A perfect score in each test is 800.

Nationally, scores were flat. The critical reading average was 502 and the math average was 515 for a total of 1,017.

New York's average total score dropped to 992 from 996.

But more New York students took the test in 2007 — 160,875 — compared to 157,591 the year before.

More minority students also took the test, a key part of how colleges judge prospective students for admission.