WHAT IS SAT

It’s one of two standardized college admissions tests in the US. (The other is the ACT.) It's run by the College Board, a non-profit that also administers the PSAT and the AP (Advanced Placement) program.

The SAT was originally adapted from an Army IQ test and administered as a college admissions test for the first time in 1926. However, it didn't really catch on until 1933, when the president of Harvard started using the test to assess scholarship applicants because he believed it was an effective measurement of intellectual potential. This view of the SAT helped propel its popularity—by the 1940s, it had become the standard test for all college applicants and was administered to over 300,000 people across the country.

The SAT's dominance of college admissions testing was challenged with the creation of the ACT in 1959. Though initially much less popular than the SAT, the ACT took hold in the Midwest and the mountain states and, in 2010, actually surpassed the SAT to become the most popular college admissions test.

In part because of the increased competition from the ACT, the SAT recently underwent some big changes. The basic purpose and form of the test are the same (it’s still a multiple choice test used for college admissions decisions), but certain aspects of the structure and content have changed.

This post will establish the basics of the SAT to help you prepare for this important test.