Is 980 a Good SAT Score?

A 980 sits 40 points under the middle SAT taker and 580 points above the 400 floor. Treat it as a starting point: on the practice table below, the 1020 middle is 4 right answers away.

Split evenly, a 980 is about 490 in Reading and Writing and 490 in Math, which on the paper Practice Test 11 table leaves room to miss 27 of 66 and 24 of 54 questions. One step down, a 970 is at the 42nd percentile of SAT takers; one step up, a 990 is at the 45th percentile.

The College Board publishes two percentiles for every total. Against recent SAT takers a 980 is at the 44th percentile; against a research sample of all US 11th and 12th graders it is at the 44th percentile. The middle of that wider group is 1010, 30 points above your 980.

On the official ACT and College Board concordance, 980 falls in the 960 to 980 band, which matches an ACT composite of 18. See that row on the ACT to SAT conversion chart or see whether 18 is a good ACT score.

On the College Board's paper version of Practice Test 11, an even 490 and 490 takes 39 of 66 Reading and Writing answers and 30 of 54 Math answers, 69 of 120 in all. Moving to 1020 takes about 4 more right answers and passes roughly 6 in 100 SAT takers. Spread any way you like, the table allows at most 68 misses for 980 and 65 for 1020.

Score a full Bluebook practice test with the SAT score calculator to see which section gives you more points per extra right answer, then aim your next test date at that section; many colleges superscore.

That depends on the college, so we list no admission ranges. To check one, search its name plus "Common Data Set" and open section C9: the 25th, 50th and 75th percentile SAT scores of enrolled first-year students. A 980 clears the 25th percentile wherever C9 starts at 980 or lower, beats the middle student where the 50th is under 980 and reaches the top quarter where the 75th is 980 or lower. At a test optional college, send your 980 where the 50th percentile is 980 or lower and leave it off where the 25th is above 980.

Some colleges post SAT minimums for merit scholarships on their own aid pages; check whether 980 clears them, because a retake that does can pay off even where scores are optional. National Merit uses the PSAT/NMSQT, not the SAT: see what a good PSAT score is.

Percentiles: College Board Research, SAT Nationally Representative and User Percentiles (2026), checked Oct 17, 2026. ACT match: ACT and College Board, 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables, checked Oct 17, 2026. Right answer counts: College Board, Scoring Your SAT Practice Test 11 (paper version of the digital test), 2026, checked Oct 17, 2026.

The guide to a good SAT score reads the same files. Official scores come only from the College Board.