SAT scores held steady for 2008 high school graduates even as participation rose among minority students and those who are part of the first generation in their families to go to college, the College Board reported today. Nationwide, the number of students taking the college entrance exam surpassed 1.5 million for the first time, up 8 percent from five years ago and up nearly 30 percent over the past decade. Forty percent of the test-takers were minority students, up from 39 percent last year, and 36 percent were among a group described as first-generation college-goers, up from 35 percent. College Board officials greeted the boost in participation as a sign that an increasingly ethnically and economically diverse group of high school students aspire to earn a college degree. Average scores among this year's graduating class were: critical reading, 502 (out of 800); math, 515; and writing, 494. The combined average score was 1511, on a 2400-point scale.

 

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