History Of The SAT Reasoning Test

Designed to measure the math, reading and writing skills necessary to predict college success, The SAT Reasoning Test is the most popular and widely accepted exam used for college entrance available today. A team of U.S. colleges developed its earliest form, known as the College Entrance Exam, in 1901. This essay-only test was designed for students applying to colleges to take one entrance exam instead of separate exams for each university. In 1926, the College Entrance Exam became the SAT (Student Aptitude Test). The test was formatted to multiple-choice in order to objectively assess a student’s college readiness while giving all students an equal opportunity for success. Since then, the title of the test was changed again to no longer stand for Student Aptitude Test due to the multifaceted purpose of the test. Published by the Educational Testing Service, the current title of the test, “SAT”, is just an acronym that no longer stands for anything. Still, the SAT has been constantly developing to best assess student scholarly performance (“History of the Tests”, 2014).

Since 1926, the College Board has been the non-profit organization responsible for the overseeing of the SAT. The latest edition of the SAT (SAT I: Reasoning Test) was redesigned in 2005 and over a century of research was completed by educators and colleges to ensure that the test fairly projects college success. The SAT is offered seven times per year in the United States (and six times at international sites), only at SAT test centers designated by the College Board. The SAT Program supplies administrators with the necessary training to administer the SAT, along with the testing materials and any support required (“College Board”, 2014).

Any student can registe...

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...itives. Some may debate the fairness of the SAT while considering the test in regards to college-admission decisions. Colleges favor the SAT because it gives students of poor circumstances a fair chance of admission. The misconception that colleges admit students solely on their SAT scores skew some people into believe the SAT itself is unfair. However, this is not true.

I personally feel that college success is determined by an abundance of factors and different cases will make it impossible to predict. It is important to acknowledge that the SAT measures only projected success. Whether a student who scores high on the SAT chooses or is able to perform well in a college setting will never be able to be predicted. However, when colleges are looking for students, they deserve to know the odds and be able to select the students that are the most likely to succeed.