Scores on the college entrance exam show Hawai'i students trailing the national average by 19 points in math and 38 points on verbal skills.

The scores also show a continuing gap between public and private schools in Hawai'i.

While public school students scored an average of 493 on the math portion of the SAT and 462 on the verbal section, private school students averaged much higher scores.

Religious school students gained nine points in math to 555 and two points in verbal to 525.

Those scores were 29 points better on math than the national average for religious schools, but six points lower on verbal.

Independent school students increased one point in math to 599 and jumped five points in verbal to 550. They are well above the combined national averages and also exceed the national averages for other independent schools.

"Hawai'i's public school SAT scores have gained ground on the national averages in the past five years," said Superintendent Pat Hamamoto. "While we are encouraged that public school scores are gradually increasing, there is substantial room for improvement."

Public school students improved on the math portion of the test by five points over last year's scores, but showed a one-point drop on the verbal portion.

More students in Hawai'i completed the SAT than did nationally. Nationally, 1.3 million students, or 46 percent of the nation's high school graduates took the SAT. In Hawai'i, 53 percent of the class of 2002 took the SAT.

Participation rates varied across the country, from 4 percent in Mississippi and North Dakota to 83 percent in Connecticut.

Among all Hawai'i students, 4,009 females, or 54 percent of the graduating class, took the SAT, while 3,401 males, or 46 percent of the class, took the test.

But males had higher average scores than females in both verbal and math. Hawai'i males scored 533 on math compared with 509 for females. Males outscored females by one point on the verbal section, 488 to 487.

Nationally, males also outscored females in verbal 504 to 498, and in math 531 to 496.

The SAT is a three-hour test, primarily multiple-choice, that measures verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities. Either it, or the rival ACT entrance exam, is required for undergraduate admission to most four-year colleges and universities.

The highest possible combined score on the SAT math and verbal sections is 1600.

In the most recent ACT scores released last week, Hawai'i students capped their sixth straight year of solid performance, improving their scores slightly and tying for seventh-best in the nation.

The College Board SAT is sometimes confused with the Stanford Achievement Test given every year to grade-school children.

Complete SAT results can be found at www.collegeboard.com.