By PAT NEWMAN
Staff Writer

SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) scores for Fayette County high school students district-wide climbed 17 points over last year's scores and remained well above the state and national averages for the 1998-99 year, according to information released Tuesday by the school district.

The system's averaged combined score for verbal and math was 1,048, compared to last year's total of 1,031. The average combined score for the state this year was 969, compared to a national average of 1,016.

McIntosh High School out-scored Fayette County High and Sandy Creek High with a combined average of 1,093. Sandy Creek High had an average score of 1,020 and Fayette County High's combined total was 1,008. McIntosh also had the highest percentage (91.6 percent) taking the SAT, followed by Fayette County High (90.2 percent) and Sandy Creek High (78.6 percent).

According to Larry Reeves, who summarized the results for the school board, all Fayette County high schools had an increase in total scores over 1998.

McIntosh High School had an increase of 25 points in the total score with an increase of 12 points in the verbal and 13 points in the math sections. Sandy Creek increased by 10 points in the total score with an increase of eight points in the verbal and two points in the math sections.

The Fayette County school system had 88.2 percent of its graduating seniors take the SAT, compared to 63 percent in the state and 43 percent nation-wide.

The college board's press release on the SAT will appear on the College Board's Web site www.collegeboard.org, on College Online.