In line with a national decline in average SAT scores, New York students who took a new version of the college entrance exam this year scored lower than previous test-takers.

According to a report released yesterday by the College Board, which administers the test, students in New York earned an average of five points less in 2006 than they did in 2005. In the critical reading component, the average score dropped four points, to 493 from 497, and in the math section the average score decline by one point, to 510.

Overall, students in New York scored 32 points lower on the test than the national average, although more students took the test than in any other state.

After the report was made public yesterday, the city’s schools chancellor, Joel Klein, told reporters “it shows that we have to continue to work harder.” Mayor Bloomberg responded to the decline by citing his opposition to social promotion, saying the city has been “unwilling to look a parent in the eye” and tell them that their child is ready for the next grade if he or she is not.

Nationwide, students on average scored seven points lower on this year’s exam, the sharpest decline in 31 years, the College Board reported. The average critical reading score was 503, compared with 508 in 2005. The average math score was 518, compared with 520 in 2005. The College Board attributed lower scores to a decrease in students taking the test multiple times, not fatigue among students taking a newer, longer exam.

Scores among minority students increased slightly in critical reading and math sections, and females outperformed males in the new essay section.

The College Board also reported that students who took the PSAT outscored those who did not by more than 100 points, prompting lawmakers in New York to tout a $1.2 million pledge announced last week that will pay for public school juniors and seniors to take the preparatory test.

In test-preparation circles, the report’s findings came as no surprise.The national director of SAT and ACT programs for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, Brandon Jones, said his company’s tutors used new curricula to prepare students for the new exam, introduced in March 2005. The new test contains a 25-minute essay question, and drops the analogy section.

“I think that, sure, overall, people are going to be nervous about this because of what it says about the educational system overall,” the head of the school advisory service for the Parents League, Cynthia Bing, said. But a larger concern is the emphasis on testing, stress, and anxiety over the college application process, she said.

The test is a high-anxiety, high-stakes experience, the CEO and founder of the test preparation company Inspirica, Lisa Jacobson, said. Ms. Jacobson blamed student fatigue for the lower scores this year, but noted that more than 20 years after founding Inspirica – which charges between $200 and $525 for an hour of customized tutoring – the most noticeable change is the elevated anxiety surrounding the exam. “Now we spend more than half our time dealing with calming people down,” she said.