Less than a century after its creation, the SAT has had a huge impact on college admissions and student mindsets across America. It is known, used, and dreaded internationally, and has the power to change both the university and mindset of prospective undergraduates. An immensely influential test, many high school students are familiar with its current format and strategies for high scores, but far fewer are familiar with its history.

College Board, the national nonprofit membership association which administers the SAT, was founded in 1900. Created by administers from 12 prestigious universities, College Board’s initial mission was to standardize the college admissions process and unify the curriculum of New England boarding schools. In 1901, College Board conducted its first set of exams, which consisted of essays in English, French, German, Latin, Greek, history, mathematics, and physics. It wasn’t until 1905 that the concept of an IQ test was even invented, and the early stages of the SAT didn’t begin until the First World War.

During World War I, Harvard professor Robert Yerkes became the first person to administer a mass IQ test. Yerkes’ Alpha and Beta tests were used on roughly two million US army recruits to assess potential officer candidates, with an emphasis on evaluating intelligence, not educational reform. After the Alpha and Beta tests’ initial success, Carl C. Brigham, one of Yerkes’ co-workers on the tests, administered an adjusted version on freshman at Princeton and Cooper Union. College Board then commissioned Brigham to create a test to evaluate a wide group of high school students. In 1926, 8,000 male high school students took the very first SAT, then called the “Scholastic Aptitude Test”.

The 1926 version of the SAT was strikingly different from the test administered today. Containing nine subtests, seven having verbal content and two with mathematical content, there were a total of 315 questions, with an allowed time of only 97 minutes. This early form of the SAT did not gain popularity until 1933, when then Harvard president James Conant decided to use the test to evaluate candidates for Harvard’s new scholarship program. Only a year later, Harvard began requiring all applicants to take the SAT, and by 1938 all member schools of the College Board (meaning all Ivy League schools) used the SAT as a scholarship test. Opportunely, 1933 was also the year IBM machines advanced from the Markograph, making multiple choice grading far easier. The SAT tests administered between 1928 and 1929, as well as those in1936 –1941, did not contain any mathematical questions.

In 1942, because of the war, College Board abolished all admission tests but the SAT. Then, in 1944, the Army and the Navy administered the SAT to over 300,000 people nationally. 1952 saw the first use of the structure of questions for the verbal section used today, in 1957 over half a million students took the SAT, the highest annual number up until that point, 1959 brought with it a new testing organization, the SAT’s main competitor: American College Testing (ACT), and in 1960 the University of California system began requiring all applicants to take the SAT.

In more recent years, notable changes to the SAT have included the 1993 name change when, due to ambiguity regarding the SAT’s functionality as an intelligence test, the SAT went from being the Scholastic Aptitude Test to the SAT I: Reasoning Test. Today, the SAT does not actually stand for anything, and is an empty acronym. 1994 brought in the inclusion of student-produced response questions and a policy permitting the use of calculators.

Today, an external advisory panel called the SAT Committee, made up of administrators and university and high school faculty have the job of considering potential changes for the test. In recent years, changes such as further liberalizing time restraints, eliminating analogy questions, switching from the current formula-based scoring system to a rights-only one, adopting guidelines regarding what is and is not permissible vocabulary, and the prohibition of certain types of calculators have all been discussed and considered.

The SAT itself may not be enjoyable for many students, but when looking at its history the observer gains a profoundly rich understanding of the American educational system. A test that arguably defines college admissions in this country, the SAT is only 85 years old but the observations that can be made based on the results it yields supply the observer with an extensive understanding of racial differences and education in this country over the last century.




Facts and Stats on the SAT

Number of people who took the SAT in 1998-99:
2.2 million

Number of high-school seniors who took the SAT in 1998-99:
1.2 million

Mean SAT scores of high-school seniors in 1998-99:
Combined - 1016
(Verbal: 505 / Math : 511)

Percentage of four-year colleges that currently require SAT tests:
83% -- a drop from 86% in 1997-98

SAT registration fee:
$23.50

Cost range for SAT preparation materials and courses:
$15 for test prep books; $500/hour for private tutors

Money spent on preparation in 1995-96:
average student spent $8 preparing
(47.8% of students spent no money; 12% spent an average of $400)

Range of time spent preparing for the SAT in 1995-96:
average student spent 11 hours studying
(44.8% of students spent 10 hours or less; 8.3% spent more than 60 hours)

All data retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/test/facts.html


Questions from Past SATs

a) 1934: Double Definition
Choose the most appropriate word set.

A___ is a venerable leader ruling by___ right.
mayor 1 patriarch 2 minister 3 general 4
paternal 1 military 2 ceremonial 3 electoral 4

b) 1942 Six-Choice Antonym
Select the two that are opposite in meaning.

1-divulged 2-esoteric 3-eucharistic 4-refined

c) 1943: Paragraph Reading
Cross out the inappropriate word.

At last William bade his knights draw off1 for a space2, and bade the archers only continue the combat. He feared3 that the English, who had no4 bowmen on their side, would find the rain of arrows so unsupportable5 that they would at last break their line and charge6, to drive off their tormentors7.

Answers: a 2,1; b 1,2; c 3

All data retrieved from
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/pdf/rr20027_11439.pdf