Arizona college-bound students made gains on their SAT scores this year, according to data from the College Board.
The median SAT score in Arizona for this past year was 1,183 — up 24 points from the year before. Broken down by subject, students improved by 13 points in reading and writing to 596 and math scores increased by 10 points to 587. The one decline in the statistics came from the participation rate, which dropped from 14% in 2022 to 11% last year.
Arizona is one of 11 states with improving SAT scores. The state’s 2.1% median score increase ranks third behind North Dakota’s 6.1% and Nebraska’s 2.5%. The states with the largest drop in median SAT scores are Indiana, New Mexico and Maryland.
Median SAT scores in Arizona are historically better than the U.S. median, and the gap has been growing steadily since the SAT was redesigned in 2016. Median U.S. scores also improved after the redesign but have fallen since. This year, the median Arizona score was 155 higher than the national median.
Most ethnicity groupings experienced improvement. Hispanic students showed the most improvement over last year with a 30-point increase. They were followed by White, Black, and Asian students. Asian students only improved their SAT median by eight points but had the overall highest median SAT scores. The one ethnic group to report a drop in scores was Native American students. Their median score fell 35 points from last year.
The report from the College Board also grouped median scores by the median household income of the student’s family. Students from middle and upper-middle-income brackets in households earning about $70,000 to $110,000 had the most improvement in scores over last year. Scores also improved by double digits for students living in the lowest income bracket.
Test-taking was neither equally nor proportionately distributed. Most SAT takers came from households in the two upper-income brackets. Those households reported earnings higher than $80,000 annually.
