Georgia high school students fared worse on the SAT college-entrance exam for the fourth year in a row.

The state's average score on the test was 1,453, a seven-point drop from last year and a 24-point drop from 2006, when scores began to decrease steadily. The state also lags behind the national average score of 1,509, which stayed flat this year.

One reason for Georgia's decline is that the number of test-takers increased to 66,000 from last year's 63,000. Typically, states with larger pools of test-takers fare worse in their scores.

The biggest decline for the state was in writing, where students scored 475 compared to last year's 479.

In math, Georgia students scored 490, a one-point drop from 2009. The critical reading score this year was 488, down two points from last year.

Tags: Georgia, education, tests, SAT scores, college entrance exams