The average SAT score was 906 in 1985 and 1029 in 2025.
On today's scale, by the College Board's conversion tables, the 1985 average works out to roughly 1090.

Parents remember the test they took. This is not that test, and these are not the same students.

In 1980-81, 994,333 students took it, roughly a third of graduates, and they chose to.
In 2025, 2,004,965 took it, and 68% sat it free on a school day, many because their state requires it.

The test changed along with who takes it.

Antonyms were dropped in 1994. Analogies were dropped in March 2005.

1980s reading passages ran 175 to 450 words, with several questions each. Today's run 25 to 150 words, with one question each.

The 1985 math section was 60 questions in 60 minutes, with no calculator and a fraction of a point off for each wrong answer.

Today's is adaptive: 44 questions in 70 minutes, with a graphing calculator built in and no guessing penalty.

It was once the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The College Board now says it measures college readiness.

Prep changed as well.

Independent studies of 1990s and 2000s takers found coaching added 20 to 30 points in total.

The College Board now reports gains of 26 to 61 points from one to three practice tests, though its own report says that doesn't show the practice caused them.

No independent study has measured prep on the current test.