9 Celebrities Who Have Shared Their SAT Score Stories
The SAT -- the Scholastic Aptitude Test or Scholastic Assessment Test -- is a teenage and high school right of passage. The standardized test determines which students are college-bound and how suited they are for the rigors of higher learning.
Granted, the test has endured its criticisms through the years, due to what's been dubbed socioeconomic and gender biases, but when you are in your teens and thinking about your future, the SAT and its importance looms large.
We've collected some celeb SAT scores. Find out which radio personality did really bad but went on to make millions in entertainment, who notched a near-perfect tally and which pop singer scored high but chose music over the life of academia, among others.
Ben Affleck
The actor, director and Oscar Winner claimed that his SAT score was near-perfect, so his BFF, Matt Damon -- who did some time at Harvard -- was not the only smarty pants in their bromance. Affleck's grades were spotty, due to typical teenage indifference. But his test-taking skills? Clearly, those were way better.
Scarlett Johansson
The pouty-lipped actress scored a 1080, which, during her high school era, was considered somewhat average. The total score possible was 1600, so you do the math. Speaking of math, Scar Jo said she didn't even answer most of the math questions, admitting, "I think the way it worked when I took them was that they were out of 1600, so maybe you'd get a 1240 if you were a smarty-pants. I got a 1080, which was pretty low. But that was probably because I didn't answer half of the math questions."
Kesha
Kesha was quite a braniac. She almost got a perfect 1600, clocking in at 1500. "Yeah, I was all set out for, like, a life of academia," the dirty girl once said. "I chose instead to drop out of high school like a month away from graduation and do this. I’ve never looked back, though." Hey, at least she had a fallback plan and it's one that's served her well.
Natalie Portman
Oscar winner Natalie Portman went to Harvard, so of course her SAT score had to be high. You don't coast on triple digit SAT scores when headed to the Ivy League. She was reported to have scored in the high 1400s. She was and remains quite a brainy beauty. She's also coauthored two articles published in scientific journals. Wow!
Drea DeMatteo
'Sopranos' star Drea DeMatteo --remember, she played Joizey girl Adriana -- only notched an 800. Considering that they used to gift test-takers with points for putting their name… that's not so good. She claimed she didn't pay attention to the math questions, instead getting a perfect score on the English part. Accentuate the positive, right?
Will Smith
Actor and rapper Will Smith was near-perfect with his score, too. He revealed, "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college." He did not get a scholarship to MIT, which was a prevalent rumor. But obviously, with those numbers, he could have.
Howard Stern
Morning radio host and 'America's Got Talent' judge Howard Stern also scored a paltry number on his SATs -- just an 870. Stern has gone onto become a multi-millionaire who is considered one of the savviest and smartest interviewers in his craft, mastering a skill that requires lots of brains. Clearly, he just sucked at taking a standardized test and he is proof that the test is not always an accurate indicator of future success.
Courteney Cox
The famous 'Friend' notched an 1150. No, that was not a huge, celebratory score, but it was decent. Cox, who played the neurotic Monica on 'Friends,' has had a long, successful career, so her score has pretty much been relegated to a moot point or conversation starter.
Janeane Garofalo
Actress and 'Reality Bites' funny gal Janeane Garofalo didn't break a thousand on her SATs, having pulled in a mere 950. It's worth nothing that comedians are often pretty brilliant, since comedic thinking is really quite brainy. We're just going to assume that JG didn't test well, since she has proven to be a smart a--.