SAT Test Scores Decline Nationally, Remain Same Here

Standardized scores of this year's freshman class remained relatively constant, despite the national trend downward, L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of admissions and financial aid, said yesterday.

National figures, according to The New York Times, showed that the mean SAT verbal score dropped from 450 to 445, while the average math scores fell from 482 to 481.

Jewett said that the scores at Harvard "did not show much of a shift." Though the verbal mean did show a decline of a few points to 669, math scores were actually up from 708 to 710.

The increase in the Math mean represents a sharp contrast with national figures, which have not shown an increase in any one year for the past ten year. Jewett termed the verbal decline at Harvard as 'not especially significant."

Jewett also cited the fact that scores for the lower one-tenth of the freshman class were consistently higher than last year's, indicating a rise in the overall strength of the class.

He said, in view of the national decline in scores, he is pleased Harvard has been able to maintain its standards.

Of particular importance, according to Jewett, is that, "We are still appealing to a strong group of applicants."

A number of explanations have been offered regarding the national trend toward declining scores. In one such hypothesis, an official of the Educational Testing Service told the Times he believed there exists the possibility that the elementary and secondary schools are not preparing students in the necessary skills as well as they did in former years.

Sam McCandless, program service officer for the College Board's Admissions Testing Program, said that, "there seems no longer to be a general consensus about what it means to be 'well educated.'"