Scores on the SAT by New York City public school students are down this year, slightly more than the declines at the state and national levels. That might seem like bad news, but it’s like one of those answers on the SAT that seems right but actually isn’t. In the round of testing whose results were reported this past week, more students took the test. That’s a positive sign, for more students are thinking about applying to selective colleges. No wonder the city’s high school graduation rate is inching higher. Think of it like a test of free-throw shooting. If only the best basketball players in the city took the free-throw shooting test, you might expect them to make 90% of the baskets. If half the students took the test, the percentage of shots made might decline to 55%, but the result could mean that the city’s students overall are more physically fit, because more of them are playing enough basketball to make them confident enough to try the test.