SDPC’s SAT Scores outperform State and National Averages

Students in the School District of Pickens County (SDPC) outperformed state and national averages on the SAT exam in 2018. SDPC’s overall total score was 1115, higher than the national score of 1049 and the South Carolina score of 1064. SDPC ranked fourth out of all 82 South Carolina school districts in overall total score with 34.8% of SDPC’s class of 2018 taking the exam. “Our class of 2018 has been very impressive in their achievement on the SAT, the ACT, and the WIN Ready to Work assessment,” said Dr. Danny Merck, SDPC superintendent. “Our focus as a district is on how prepared our students are for success beyond the classroom. SDPC’s students consistently show their highest performance when it counts the most, at the end of their high school careers. I’m proud of what that says about our students, their families, and the culture of our high schools.” The new SAT relies on two main components: Evidence Based Reading and Writing (ERW) and Math. The Essay section is optional. Scores range from 400 to 1600 overall with 200 to 800 coming from ERW and 200-800 coming from Math. SDPC students had a mean score of 568 on the ERW portion of the test and 546 on the Math portion, outperforming state and national averages for both portions. The College Board has also released the results of 2018 Advanced Placement exams. The AP participation rate of SDPC student continued to climb to 1,947 tests taken by 1,132 students. The passage rate dipped slightly to 52.6% from last year’s 53%. However, the increase in participation led to a total of 1,024 tests passed, which is an increase of 149 from the year before. In the past ten years, the number of SDPC students taking AP exams has more than doubled. “Our district’s philosophy regarding Advanced Placement is to expose as many students as possible to the rigor of AP courses. I think that approach has paid dividends in the performance of our students on the SAT, ACT, and WIN Ready to Work test, and is the best way to prepare students for college and careers,” Dr. Merck said.