SAT Test Scores Sink for Third Straight Year : Scholastics: Reading could become ‘lost art’ among video-addicted secondary students, College Board warns.

Warning that reading could become a “lost art” among high school students, the College Board reported today that SAT scores sank for the third consecutive year. Verbal averages dropped to their lowest levels in a decade.

Scores on the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test last year fell 3 points to 424--the lowest since 1980 and equal to the lowest levels since annual averages were first compiled in 1971.

Scores on the math section averaged 476, unchanged for the fourth straight year.

The steady, four-year slide in verbal scores from a recent peak of 431 in 1986 is “disturbing but not particularly surprising,” said College Board president Donald M. Stewart.

“Students must pay less attention to videogames and music videos and begin to read more.”

Blame for the poor verbal scores rests with parents and schools, Stewart said in an interview.

“The requirement to read through homework has been reduced. Students don’t read as much because they don’t have to read as much,” he said.

“Reading is in danger of becoming a lost art among too many American students--and that would be a national tragedy.”

Among the few bright spots in the gloomy report: Women’s math scores reached their best levels in 16 years, scores of American Indians rose a combined 13 points and black test-takers continued a 15-year trend as the most improved ethnic group.

California students scored 419 on the verbal section--below the national average and a decline of 3 points from the 1989 average. In the math section, California students averaged 484--the same as last year. This year’s score was 8 points above the national average.

The SAT, taken by 1.03 million college-bound high school students, is a two-part multiple-choice exam, each scored on a scale of 200-800.

The report found that the higher a student’s family income, the higher the average score. Test-takers from 151,485 families earning $70,000 or more averaged 468 on the verbal, 527 on math. The 41,845 test-takers from families earning less than $10,000 averaged 357 in verbal, 419 math.

Iowa posted the highest state average, a combined 1,088.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER?

Here are questions from an SAT test administered May 7, 1988, reprinted by permission of the Educational Testing Service, which is the copyright owner of the questions.

MATH

How old was a person exactly 1 year ago if exactly “x” years ago the person was “y” years old?

(A) y - 1

(B) y - x - 1

(C) x - y - 1

(D) y + x + 1

(E) y + x - 1

Answer is (E); correctly answered by 55% of test-takers.

A blend of coffee is made by mixing Colombian coffee at $8 a pound with espresso coffee at $3 a pound. If the blend is worth $5 a pound, how many pounds of the Colombian coffee are needed to make 50 pounds of the blend?

(A) 20

(B) 25

(C) 30

(D) 35

(E) 40

Answer is (A); correctly answered by 19%

VERBAL

Directions: Select the lettered pair that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair.

HAMMER:CARPENTER

(A) stone:mason

(B) brush:painter

(C) music:violinist

(D) suspect:detective

(E) bracelet:jeweler

Answer is (B); correctly answered by 94%

FLACCID:FIRMNESS

(A) weathered:exposure

(B) dreadful:fear

(C) amorphous:form

(D) stagnant:stillness

(E) cavernous:space

Answer is (C); correctly answered by 26%