The Gender Scoring Gap on the SAT College Entrance Examination

The College Board has released its annual report on the scores of graduating high school seniors in the Class of 2016 on the SAT college entrance examination. There were 875,342 women in the Class of 2016 who took the SAT, compared to 762,247 men.

The results show that the average score for women on the reading section of the test was 493. This was slightly below the average score for men which stood at 495. The SAT is scored on a scale of 200 to 800 points. On the mathematics portion of the test, a significant gender gap exists. Women had an average score of 494, compared to an average score for men of 524. On the writing section of the test, women had an average score of 487. Men scored an average of 475. The average combined score for women of 1474 was 20 points below the average combined score for men.

Data in the report shows that of the high schools seniors who were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class, 56 percent were women. Of test takers who had a high school grade point average of A or A+, more than 60 percent were women. Women test takers had a higher grade point average than men in all high school classes, including mathematics and natural sciences.