By Brandon Park
Staff Writer

On October 6, 2007, 110 Morgan County High School students voluntarily participated in the set of standardized college entrance examinations known as the SAT.

According to results released on August 26, test takers scored an average of 1,383, 83 points below the state average score of 1,466 and 128 points below the national average score of 1,511.

Over the past three years, MCHS students' average score on the SAT has been on a steady decline, according to results found on the Georgia Department of Education's Web site.

In 2005/2006, 103 students were tested and scored an average of 1,454, 14 points below the state average score of 1,468 and 52 points below the national average score of 1,506.

In 2006/2007, a total of 115 students participated and scored an average of 1,403, 51 points below the previous year, 55 points below the state average that dropped 10 points to 1,458 and 92 points below the national average that fell nine points to 1,495.

The SAT Reasoning Test is the nation's most widely used admissions test among colleges and universities.

It is typically taken by high school juniors and seniors and tells the students how well they use the skills and knowledge they have attained in and outside of the classroom - including how they think, solve problems and communicate.

The test is broken down into three scoring sections, verbal, math and writing. The three scores are combined and a total score is calculated.

Each individual section is scored between 200 to 800 points and a total of 2,400 points can be earned.
MCHS students averaged a score of 465 on the verbal section, 469 on the math section and 449 on the writing section, totaling an overall average of 1,383.