TEN‐YEAR TRENDS IN SAT SCORES AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS TAKING THE SAT AND PLANNING TO STUDY MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, OR ENGINEERING

Abstract

SUMMARYThis study analyzed data from the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) taken by high school seniors between 1975 and 1986. Its purpose was to study trends in the numbers, test scores, and other characteristics of examinees planning to major in math, science, and engineering, and to compare these data with comparable data from examinees planning to major in other areas.The major findings were as follows: The number of examinees planning to major in math, science, and engineering increased until 1983 and has since declined. Aerospace and electrical engineering as well as international relations showed steadily increasing interest, while interest in majoring in computer science declined 49 percent in the past three years. Examinees planning to major in math, science, and engineering in 1986 obtained SAT Verbal scores averaging 19 points higher than the average for all examinees, although the means varied greatly depending upon the specific major field choice. The average SAT Mathematics scores of examinees planning to major in math, science, and engineering in 1986 were 38 points higher than the average for all test takers. There is considerable variation in the math aptitudes of examinees planning to study math, science, and engineering. The highest means have been obtained consistently by those planning to major in physics. Those planning to major in agriculture, child psychology, general psychology, social psychology, sociology, law enforcement, and miscellaneous social sciences all have had averages consistently below the mean for all examinees. Examinees intending to study pre‐medicine, classics, comparative literature, philosophy, classical languages, Chinese, Latin, Russian, education of the gifted and talented, and mathematics education had higher means than those interested in math, science, and engineering. The Verbal and Math scores of examinees interested in computer science have declined 26 and 40 points respectively in the last ten years. There are still more males than females interested in math, science, and engineering, and the women do not seem to be catching up with the men in terms of majoring in these fields. Women planning to major in electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering have higher average SAT Math scores than the men interested in these fields. Mean SAT Math scores of blacks planning to major in math, science, and engineering have risen considerably over the past decade, especially among those planning to major in mathematics or statistics.