Alaskan students' scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) increased nine points between 1984 and 1985, matching the national gain. These scores marked the fourth year of increases following 17 years of consistently declining scores. Thirty-three percent of Alaska's high school seniors took the SAT in 1985. The combined score of 923 was 17 points above the national average. Nationally, a greater number of students took the SAT, including a greater number of minority students, who represented twenty percent of students taking the SAT. Substantial gains were reported for both sexes and all racial groups. However, with the exception of Asian Americans, minority groups' scores were lower than whites'. Females generally scored lower than males, particularly in mathematics. About the same number of students took the American College Testing examinations (ACT) as the SAT. However, the trends differed. ACT scores declined from 1970 to 1976 and stabilized in subsequent years. Increases have been smaller, and women outperformed men on the English test. Problems in interpreting SAT data and making state-to-state comparisons were illustrated. It was also recommended that SAT scores not be used to summarize educational quality. (GDC)