The State Department of Education says Iowa students increased their average verbal and math scores on the S-A-T college entrance exam, and were above the national average on both. Only five percent of students nationwide take the S-A-T compared to the A-C-T test, so it’s not as an important gauge of Iowa students. Education Department spokeswoman Kathi Slaughter says one important thing to come from the S-A-T results is more students report their schools are offering advanced placement courses for college. She says over the years Iowa hasn’t had a large number of schools offering advanced placement courses and they’ve been trying to get them to increase. A spokesman for the A-C-T has expressed concern about the number of students taking advanced college courses. Slaughter says this is information after the A-C-T results that shows those college prep courses are gradually increasing. Slaughter says there is another positive from the S-A-T results.She says minority student participation has increased, which she says is good news. Iowa high school had an average verbal score of 596 and average math score of 608 on the S-A-T compared to the national average verbal score of 508 and average math score of 520. The highest possible score is 800 in each category.