Are these good SAT scores, or just average? (570 or critical reading, 650 for math, 580 for writing)?

Question

The scores i listed above are the sparate scores, obviously. It's not like i got a 570 out of 2400, or a 650 out of 2400. Separately, those are each out of 800.

Answer 1

Don't listen to Allen, he sounds like a smug British guy who is not familiar with the system.  Okay, your CR and Writing scores are just above average but are not great.  Colleges group admissions into bands by hundreds on the sat (ie. 200's, 300's, 400's, etc).  Getting an extra 30 and 20 points will get you there.  Shoot for 600 in all AT THE MINIMUM.  Your score of 1800 is decent, but to go to elite schools, its 2000+.  Thats an increase of approx. 70 pts per category, you sould concentrate on CR and Writing because they seem to trouble you.

Answer 2

They're decent for you Americans. But they're also a reflection of the fact that you're not ready for college.

I'm not trying to be elitist. But to score 650 on a test that tests seventh and eighth grade math is ridiculous if you're serious about going to college. And if you're an American, you are practically immersed in English 24/7 (unless you're a member of the disadvantaged minority, and I'd eat my words if that's true) - scoring this for critical reading's absolutely unacceptable unless you were dozing off during the SAT. A writing score of 580 simply means you CAN'T write.

A decent score in anyone's book (including mine) would be something like 2100. For the record, I scored 1450/1600 on the old SAT at age 14 with zero preparation (meaning not a single test prep book, must less a course).

If you're a high school junior, you still have time. Get cracking. If you don't know how to improve, ASK. Or buy test prep books. Your fate is in your own hands.