SAT

Content

The SAT started in 1926 as a very different test than its current version. The 1926 SAT consisted of 315 verbal reasoning and mathematics items administered in 97 minutes. Few if any of the 8,000 young men who took the test were expected to have enough time to answer all the questions.

In 1928, 1929, and 1936–1941, the SAT contained no mathematics items. Throughout the early years, the verbal reasoning items required examinees to select the correct response, but math items required examinees to produce a short answer. Beginning in 1942, all items used the multiple-choice format, allowing for more efficient scoring. In 1994, (machine scorable) short answer questions were reintroduced to the math section of the SAT.

The most recent changes to the content of the SAT were introduced in 2005 and are described in a subsequent section of this entry.

Name

Between 1926 and 1990, SAT was an acronym for Scholastic Aptitude Test. In 1990, the words associated with the acronym were changed to Scholastic Assessment Test. In 1994, the name of the test was changed to SAT, the letters no longer standing for any words.

Critical Reading

The critical reading measure consists of 48 passage-based reading items (traditionally called reading comprehension items) and 19 sentence completion items. Most of the items (approximately 70 percent) are used to assess the ability of a student to reason about the material read. The remaining items measure literal comprehension and vocabulary in context. Examinees have 70 minutes to answer the 67 items.

Mathematics

The mathematics measure consists of 44 multiple-choice items and 10 student-produced items. Examinees have 70 minutes to respond to the 54 items. The items cover a variety of mathematics topics—numbers and operations, algebra and functions, geometry and measurement, and data analysis, statistics, and probability.

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