Nebraska high school students in the class of 2016 who took the SAT college entrance exam before it was rewritten in March scored higher than the national average.Â
The College Board, which administers the entrance exam, rewrote the test, making the writing portion optional, removing a penalty for wrong answers and offering test-prep videos. The reading part on the new test requires test-takers to cite evidence for their answers, and math questions are more tightly focused on four primary areas.
The other big change: a perfect score of 2,400 changed to 1,600.
In Nebraska, where just 604 students took the SAT through January, the average composite scores of three different sections -- critical reading, math and writing -- was 1,758 on the 2,400-point scale. That compares to the national average of 1,484. The national score was down slightly from the same time period in 2015.
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Nebraska’s students scored an average of 590 on the critical reading test, 595 on the math test and 573 on the writing test. That compares to national averages of 494, 508 and 482, respectively. Each test has a possible 800 points.
Entrance to the University of Nebraska requires a combined score of 950 on the critical reading and math tests. The writing test isn't required.
About 88 percent of Nebraska’s 2016 graduates -- or 18,598 of them -- took the ACT college entrance exam. Lincoln Public Schools is among eight districts that has given the ACT to all juniors as part of a pilot project.
And even more will take the ACT next year. The Nebraska Department of Education just signed a contract with the state, replacing state tests given to all high school juniors with the ACT.Â
A perfect ACT score is 36; NU requires a minimum score of 20.
The SAT is much more common on the coasts, and only Nebraska students applying to out-of-state colleges are likely to take it.
Nationally, 1,637,589 graduates took the SAT through January. Between January and June, another 43,545 students took the new test. A total of 2,090,342 students took the ACT.
LPS officials had not received district-level results from SAT as of Monday. About 80 of the district’s 2016 graduates took the test.