What means the word sat

This article is about the college admission test in the United States of America. For the exams in England colloquially known as SATs, see National Curriculum assessment.

SAT

Logo since 2017
Type	Paper-based standardized test
Developer / administrator	College Board, Educational Testing Service
Knowledge / skills tested	Writing, critical reading, mathematics
Purpose	Admission to undergraduate programs of universities or colleges
Year started	1926; 97 years ago
Duration	3 hours[1]
Score / grade range	Test scored on scale of 200–800, (in 10-point increments), on each of two sections (total 400–1600). Essay scored on scale of 2–8, in 1-point increments, on each of three criteria.
Offered	7 times annually[a]
Countries / regions	Worldwide
Languages	English
Annual number of test takers	Over 1.7 million high school graduates in the class of 2022[3]
Prerequisites / eligibility criteria	No official prerequisite. Intended for high school students. Fluency in English assumed.
Fee	US$60.00 to US$108.00, depending on country.[4]
Scores / grades used by	Most universities and colleges offering undergraduate programs in the U.S.
Website	sat.collegeboard.org

The SAT ( ess-ay-TEE) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and had two components, Verbal and Mathematical, each of which was scored on a range from 200 to 800. Later it was called the Scholastic Assessment Test, then the SAT I: Reasoning Test, then the SAT Reasoning Test, then simply the SAT.

The SAT is wholly owned, developed, and published by the College Board, a private, not-for-profit organization in the United States. It is administered on behalf of the College Board by the Educational Testing Service,^[5] which until recently developed the SAT as well.^[6] The test is intended to assess students’ readiness for college. Originally designed not to be aligned with high school curricula,^[7] several adjustments were made for the version of the SAT introduced in 2016. College Board president David Coleman added that he wanted to make the test reflect more closely what students learn in high school with the new Common Core standards,^[8] which have been adopted by the District of Columbia and many states.

Starting with the 2015–16 school year, the College Board began working with Khan Academy to provide free SAT preparation.^[9] On January 19, 2021, the College Board announced the discontinuation of the optional essay section, as well as its SAT Subject Tests, after June 2021.^[10][11]

While a considerable amount of research has been done on the SAT, many questions and misconceptions remain.^[12][13] Outside of college admissions, the SAT is also used by researchers studying human intelligence in general and intellectual precociousness in particular,^[14][15][16] and by some employers in the recruitment process.^[17][18][19]

Function[edit]

The SAT is typically taken by high school juniors and seniors.^[20] The College Board states that the SAT is intended to measure literacy, numeracy and writing skills that are needed for academic success in college. They state that the SAT assesses how well the test-takers analyze and solve problems—skills they learned in school that they will need in college. However, the test is administered under a tight time limit (sped) to help produce a range of scores.^[21]

The College Board also states that the SAT, in combination with high school grade point average (GPA), provides a better indicator of success in college than high school grades alone, as measured by college freshman GPA. Various studies conducted over the lifetime of the SAT show a statistically significant increase in correlation of high school grades and college freshman grades when the SAT is factored in.^[22] The predictive validity and powers of the SAT are topics of active research in psychometrics.^[12]

There are substantial differences in funding, curricula, grading, and difficulty among U.S. secondary schools due to U.S. federalism, local control, and the prevalence of private, distance, and home schooled students. SAT (and ACT) scores are intended to supplement the secondary school record and help admission officers put local data—such as course work, grades, and class rank—in a national perspective.^[23]

Historically, the SAT was more widely used by students living in coastal states and the ACT was more widely used by students in the Midwest and South; in recent years, however, an increasing number of students on the East and West coasts have been taking the ACT.^[24][25] Since 2007, all four-year colleges and universities in the United States that require a test as part of an application for admission will accept either the SAT or ACT, and as of Fall 2022, over 1400 four-year colleges and universities do not require any standardized test scores at all for admission, though some of them are applying this policy only temporarily due to the coronavirus pandemic.^[26][27]

The SAT takes three hours to finish and as of 2022 costs US$60.00, excluding late fees, with additional processing fees if the SAT is taken outside the United States.^[28] Scores on the SAT range from 400 to 1600, combining test results from two 200-to-800-point sections: the Mathematics section and the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section. Although taking the SAT, or its competitor the ACT, is required for freshman entry to many colleges and universities in the United States,^[29] during the 2010s, many institutions made these entrance exams optional,^[30][31][32] but this did not stop the students from attempting to achieve high scores^[33] as they and their parents are skeptical of what «optional» means in this context.^[34][35] In fact, the test-taking population was increasing steadily.^[36] And while this may have resulted in a long-term decline in scores,^[36][37][38] experts cautioned against using this to gauge the scholastic levels of the entire U.S. population.^[38]

Structure[edit]

The SAT has two main sections, namely Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW, normally known as the «English» portion of the test) and the Math section. These are both further broken down into four sections: Reading, Writing and Language, Math (no calculator), and Math (calculator allowed). The test taker was also optionally able to write an essay which, in that case, is the fifth test section. The total time for the scored portion of the SAT is three hours (or three hours and fifty minutes if the optional essay section was taken). Some test takers who are not taking the essay may also have a fifth section, which is used, at least in part, for the pretesting of questions that may appear on future administrations of the SAT. (These questions are not included in the computation of the SAT score.)

Two section scores result from taking the SAT: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, and Math. Section scores are reported on a scale of 200 to 800, and each section score is a multiple of ten. A total score for the SAT is calculated by adding the two section scores, resulting in total scores that range from 400 to 1600. In addition to the two section scores, three «test» scores on a scale of 10 to 40 are reported, one for each of Reading, Writing and Language, and Math, with increment of 1 for Reading / Writing and Language, and 0.5 for Math. There are also two cross-test scores that each range from 10 to 40 points: Analysis in History/Social Studies and Analysis in Science.^[39] The essay, if taken, was scored separately from the two section scores.^[40] Two people score each essay by each awarding 1 to 4 points in each of three categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing.^[41] These two scores from the different examiners are then combined to give a total score from 2 to 8 points per category. Though sometimes people quote their essay score out of 24, the College Board themselves do not combine the different categories to give one essay score, instead giving a score for each category.

There is no penalty or negative marking for guessing on the SAT: scores are based on the number of questions answered correctly. The optional essay will not be offered after the June 2021 administration.^[10][11] College Board said it would discontinue the essay section because «there are other ways for students to demonstrate their mastery of essay writing,» including the test’s reading and writing portion.^[10][11] It also acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic had played a role in the change, accelerating ‘a process already underway’.^[11]

Reading Test[edit]

The Reading Test of the SAT contains one section of 52 questions and a time limit of 65 minutes.^[40] All questions are multiple-choice and based on reading passages. Tables, graphs, and charts may accompany some passages, but no math is required to correctly answer the corresponding questions. There are five passages (up to two of which may be a pair of smaller passages) on the Reading Test and ten or eleven questions per passage or passage pair. SAT Reading passages draw from three main fields: history, social studies, and science. Each SAT Reading Test always includes: one passage from U.S. or world literature; one passage from either a U.S. founding document or a related text; one passage about economics, psychology, sociology, or another social science; and, two science passages. Answers to all of the questions are based only on the content stated in or implied by the passage or passage pair.^[42]

The Reading Test contributes (with the Writing and Language Test) to two subscores, each ranging from 1 to 15 points:^[39]

• Command of Evidence
• Words in Context

Writing and Language Test[edit]

The Writing and Language Test of the SAT is made up of one section with 44 multiple-choice questions and a time limit of 35 minutes.^[40] As with the Reading Test, all questions are based on reading passages which may be accompanied by tables, graphs, and charts. The test taker will be asked to read the passages and suggest corrections or improvements for the contents underlined. Reading passages on this test range in content from topic arguments to nonfiction narratives in a variety of subjects. The skills being evaluated include: increasing the clarity of argument; improving word choice; improving analysis of topics in social studies and science; changing sentence or word structure to increase organizational quality and impact of writing; and, fixing or improving sentence structure, word usage, and punctuation.^[43]

The Writing and Language Test reports two subscores, each ranging from 1 to 15 points:^[39]

• Expression of Ideas
• Standard English Conventions

Mathematics[edit]

The mathematics portion of the SAT is divided into two sections: Math Test – No Calculator and Math Test – Calculator. In total, the SAT math test is 80 minutes long and includes 58 questions: 45 multiple choice questions and 13 grid-in questions.^[44] The multiple choice questions have four possible answers; the grid-in questions are free response and require the test taker to provide an answer.

• The Math Test – No Calculator section has 20 questions (15 multiple choice and 5 grid-in) and lasts 25 minutes.
• The Math Test – Calculator section has 38 questions (30 multiple choice and 8 grid-in) and lasts 55 minutes.

Several scores are provided to the test taker for the math test. A subscore (on a scale of 1 to 15) is reported for each of three categories of math content:

• «Heart of Algebra» (linear equations, systems of linear equations, and linear functions)
• «Problem Solving and Data Analysis» (statistics, modeling, and problem-solving skills)
• «Passport to Advanced Math» (non-linear expressions, radicals, exponentials and other topics that form the basis of more advanced math).

A test score for the math test is reported on a scale of 10 to 40, with an increment of 0.5, and a section score (equal to the test score multiplied by 20) is reported on a scale of 200 to 800.^[45][46][47]

Calculator use[edit]

All scientific and most graphing calculators, including Computer Algebra System (CAS) calculators, are permitted on the SAT Math – Calculator section only. All four-function calculators are allowed as well; however, these devices are not recommended. All mobile phone and smartphone calculators, calculators with typewriter-like (QWERTY) keyboards, laptops and other portable computers, and calculators capable of accessing the Internet are not permitted.^[48]

Research was conducted by the College Board to study the effect of calculator use on SAT I: Reasoning Test math scores. The study found that performance on the math section was associated with the extent of calculator use: those using calculators on about one third to one half of the items averaged higher scores than those using calculators more or less frequently. However, the effect was «more likely to have been the result of able students using calculators differently than less able students rather than calculator use per se.»^[49] There is some evidence that the frequent use of a calculator in school outside of the testing situation has a positive effect on test performance compared to those who do not use calculators in school.^[50]

Style of questions[edit]

Most of the questions on the SAT, except for the grid-in math responses, are multiple choice; all multiple-choice questions have four answer choices, one of which is correct. Thirteen of the questions on the math portion of the SAT (about 22% of all the math questions) are not multiple choice.^[51] They instead require the test taker to bubble in a number in a four-column grid.

All questions on each section of the SAT are weighted equally. For each correct answer, one raw point is added.^[52] No points are deducted for incorrect answers. The final score is derived from the raw score; the precise conversion chart varies between test administrations.

Section	Average Score 2022 (200 — 800)[3]	Time (Minutes)	Content
Mathematics	521	25+55=80	Number and operations; algebra and functions; geometry; statistics, probability, and data analysis
Evidence-Based Reading and Writing	529	65+35=100	Vocabulary, Critical reading, sentence-level reading, Grammar, usage, and diction

Logistics[edit]

Frequency[edit]

The SAT is offered seven times a year in the United States: in August, October, November, December, March, May, and June. For international students SAT is offered four times a year: in October, December, March and May (2020 exception: To cover worldwide May cancelation, an additional September exam was introduced, and August was made available to international test-takers as well). The test is typically offered on the first Saturday of the month for the October, November, December, May, and June administrations.^[53][54] The test was taken by 1,737,678 high school graduates in the class of 2022.^[3]

Candidates wishing to take the test may register online at the College Board’s website or by mail at least three weeks before the test date.

Fees[edit]

As of 2022, the SAT costs US$60.00, plus additional fees if testing outside the United States.^[28] The College Board makes fee waivers available for low-income students. Additional fees apply for late registration, standby testing, registration changes, scores by telephone, and extra score reports (beyond the four provided for free).

Accommodation for candidates with disabilities[edit]

Students with verifiable disabilities, including physical and learning disabilities, are eligible to take the SAT with accommodations. The standard time increase for students requiring additional time due to learning disabilities or physical handicaps is time + 50%; time + 100% is also offered.

Scaled scores and percentiles[edit]

Students receive their online score reports approximately two to three weeks after test administration (longer for mailed, paper scores).^[55] Included in the report is the total score (the sum of the two section scores, with each section graded on a scale of 200–800) and three subscores (in reading, writing, and analysis, each on a scale of 2–8) for the optional essay.^[56] Students may also receive, for an additional fee, various score verification services, including (for select test administrations) the Question and Answer Service, which provides the test questions, the student’s answers, the correct answers, and the type and difficulty of each question.^[57]

In addition, students receive two percentile scores, each of which is defined by the College Board as the percentage of students in a comparison group with equal or lower test scores. One of the percentiles, called the «Nationally Representative Sample Percentile», uses as a comparison group all 11th and 12th graders in the United States, regardless of whether or not they took the SAT. This percentile is theoretical and is derived using methods of statistical inference. The second percentile, called the «SAT User Percentile», uses actual scores from a comparison group of recent United States students that took the SAT. For example, for the school year 2019–2020, the SAT User Percentile was based on the test scores of students in the graduating classes of 2018 and 2019 who took the SAT (specifically, the 2016 revision) during high school. Students receive both types of percentiles for their total score as well as their section scores.^[56]

Percentiles for total scores (2022)[edit]

Percentiles for total scores (2022)^[56]

Score, 400–1600 scale	SAT User	Nationally representative sample
1600	99+	99+
1550	99	99+
1500	98	99
1450	96	99
1400	93	97
1350	90	94
1300	86	91
1250	81	86
1200	75	81
1150	68	74
1100	60	67
1050	51	58
1000	43	48
950	35	38
900	27	29
850	19	21
800	13	14
750	7	8
700	3	4
650	1	1
640–400	1-	1-

Percentiles for total scores (2006)[edit]

The following chart summarizes the original percentiles used for the version of the SAT administered in March 2005 through January 2016. These percentiles used students in the graduating class of 2006 as the comparison group.^[58][59]

Percentile	Score 400–1600 scale, (official, 2006)	Score, 600–2400 scale (official, 2006)
99.93/99.98*	1600	2400
99.5	≥1540	≥2280
99	≥1480	≥2200
98	≥1450	≥2140
97	≥1420	≥2100
93	≥1340	≥1990
88	≥1280	≥1900
81	≥1220	≥1800
72	≥1150	≥1700
61	≥1090	≥1600
48	≥1010	≥1500
36	≥950	≥1400
24	≥870	≥1300
15	≥810	≥1200
8	≥730	≥1090
4	≥650	≥990
2	≥590	≥890
* The percentile of the perfect score was 99.98 on the 2400 scale and 99.93 on the 1600 scale.

Percentiles for total scores (1984)[edit]

Percentiles for total scores (1984)^[60]

Score (1984)	Percentile
1600	99.9995
1550	99.983
1500	99.89
1450	99.64
1400	99.10
1350	98.14
1300	96.55
1250	94.28
1200	91.05
1150	86.93
1100	81.62
1050	75.31
1000	67.81
950	59.64
900	50.88
850	41.98
800	33.34
750	25.35
700	18.26
650	12.37
600	7.58
550	3.97
500	1.53
450	0.29
400	0.002

Percentiles for verbal and math scores (1969–70)[edit]

^[61]

Score, 200–800 scale	Verbal SAT User	Verbal, nationally representative sample	Math SAT User, Boys	Math SAT User, Girls
800	99+	99+	99+	99+
750	99+	99+	99	99+
700	98	99+	95	99
650	95	98	89	96
600	89	95	78	89
550	79	90	65	79
500	66	82	48	63
450	50	72	33	46
400	33	58	20	29
350	18	44	11	16
300	7	28	4	6
250	2	14	1	1
200	1−	4	1−	1−

The mean verbal score was 461 for students staking the SAT, 383 for the sample of all students.^[61]

The mathematical scores for 1969–70 were broken out by gender rather than reported as a whole; the mean math score for boys was 415, for girls 378. The differences for the nationally sampled population for math (not shown in table) were similar to those for the verbal section.^[61]

Ceilings and trends[edit]

The version of the SAT administered before April 1995 had a very high ceiling. For example, in the 1985–1986 school year, only 9 students out of 1.7 million test takers obtained a score of 1600.^[62]

In 2015 the average score for the Class of 2015 was 1490 out of a maximum 2400. That was down 7 points from the previous class’s mark and was the lowest composite score of the past decade.^[37]

SAT–ACT score comparisons[edit]

The College Board and ACT, Inc., conducted a joint study of students who took both the SAT and the ACT between September 2004 (for the ACT) or March 2005 (for the SAT) and June 2006. Tables were provided to concord scores for students taking the SAT after January 2005 and before March 2016.^[63][64] In May 2016, the College Board released concordance tables to concord scores on the SAT used from March 2005 through January 2016 to the SAT used since March 2016, as well as tables to concord scores on the SAT used since March 2016 to the ACT.^[65]

In 2018, the College Board, in partnership with the ACT, introduced a new concordance table to better compare how a student would fare one test to another.^[66] This is now considered the official concordance to be used by college professionals and is replacing the one from 2016. The new concordance no longer features the old SAT (out of 2,400), just the new SAT (out of 1,600) and the ACT (out of 36).

As of 2018, the most appropriate corresponding SAT score point for the given ACT score is also shown in the table below.^[67]

ACT Composite Score	SAT Total Score Range	SAT Total Score
36	1570–1600	1590
35	1530–1560	1540
34	1490–1520	1500
33	1450–1480	1460
32	1420–1440	1430
31	1390–1410	1400
30	1360–1380	1370
29	1330–1350	1340
28	1300–1320	1310
27	1260–1290	1280
26	1230–1250	1240
25	1200–1220	1210
24	1160–1190	1180
23	1130–1150	1140
22	1100–1120	1110
21	1060–1090	1080
20	1030–1050	1040
19	990–1020	1010
18	960–980	970
17	920–950	930
16	880–910	890
15	830–870	850
14	780–820	800
13	730–770	760
12	690–720	710
11	650–680	670
10	620–640	630
9	590–610	590

Elucidation[edit]

Preparation[edit]

Pioneered by Stanley Kaplan in 1946 with a 64-hour course,^[68] SAT preparation has become a highly lucrative field.^[69] Many companies and organizations offer test preparation in the form of books, classes, online courses, and tutoring.^[70] The test preparation industry began almost simultaneously with the introduction of university entrance exams in the U.S. and flourished from the start.^[71] Test-preparation scams are a genuine problem for parents and students.^[72] In general, East Asian Americans, especially Korean Americans, are the most likely to take private SAT preparation courses while African Americans prefer one-on-one tutoring for remedial learning.^[73]

Nevertheless, the College Board maintains that the SAT is essentially uncoachable and research by the College Board and the National Association of College Admission Counseling suggests that tutoring courses result in an average increase of about 20 points on the math section and 10 points on the verbal section.^[74] Indeed, researchers have shown time and again that preparation courses tend to offer at best a modest boost to test scores.^[75][76][77] Like IQ scores, which are a strong correlate, SAT scores tend to be stable over time, meaning SAT preparation courses offer only a limited advantage.^[78] An early meta-analysis (from 1983) found similar results and noted «the size of the coaching effect estimated from the matched or randomized studies (10 points) seems too small to be practically important.»^[79] Statisticians Ben Domingue and Derek C. Briggs examined data from the Education Longitudinal Survey of 2002 and found that the effects of coaching were only statistically significant for mathematics; moreover, coaching had a greater effect on certain students than others, especially those who have taken rigorous courses and those of high socioeconomic status.^[80] A 2012 systematic literature review estimated a coaching effect of 23 and 32 points for the math and verbal tests, respectively.^[71] A 2016 meta-analysis estimated the effect size to be 0.09 and 0.16 for the verbal and math sections respectively, although there was a large degree of heterogeneity.^[81] Meanwhile, a 2011 study found that the effects of one-on-one tutoring to be minimal among all ethnic groups.^[73] Public misunderstanding of how to prepare for the SAT continues to be exploited by the preparation industry.^[12]

While there is a link between family background and taking an SAT preparation course, not all students benefit equally from such an investment. In fact, any average gains in SAT scores due to such courses are primarily due to improvements among East Asian Americans.^[82] When this group is broken down even further, Korean Americans are more likely to take SAT prep courses than Chinese Americans, taking full advantage of their Church communities and ethnic economy.^[83]

The College Board announced a partnership with the non-profit organization Khan Academy to offer free test-preparation materials starting in the 2015–16 academic year to help level the playing field for students from low-income families.^[9][37] Students may also bypass costly preparation programs using the more affordable official guide from the College Board and with solid studying habits.^[84]

There is some evidence that taking the PSAT at least once can help students do better on the SAT;^[85] moreover, like the case for the SAT, top scorers on the PSAT could earn scholarships.^[35] According to cognitive scientist Sian Beilock, ‘choking’, or substandard performance on important occasions, such as taking the SAT, can be prevented by doing plenty of practice questions and proctored exams to improve procedural memory, making use of the booklet to write down intermediate steps to avoid overloading working memory, and writing a diary entry about one’s anxieties on the day of the exam to enhance self-empathy and positive self-image.^[86]

Predictive validity and powers[edit]

In 2009, education researchers Richard C. Atkinson and Saul Geiser from the University of California (UC) system argued that high school GPA is better than the SAT at predicting college grades regardless of high school type or quality.^[87] According to William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal, it is the hope of some UC officials to increase the number of African- and Latino-American students attending by dropping or otherwise casting doubt on the SAT which, in turn, would enable decreasing the number of Asian-American students who are heavily represented in the UC student body (29.5%) relative to their share of the population of California (13.6%).^[88] However, Atkinson and Geiser’s assertions on the better predictive power of high school GPA have been contested by the UC academic senate.^[88] In its 2020 report, the UC academic senate found that the SAT was better than high school GPA at predicting first year GPA, and just as good as high school GPA at predicting undergraduate GPA, first year retention, and graduation. This predictive validity was found to hold across demographic groups, with the report noting that standardized test scores were actually «better predictors of success for students who are Underrepresented Minority students (URMs), who are first-generation, or whose families are low-income.»^[89] A series of College Board reports point to similar predictive validity across demographic groups.^[90][91]

The SAT is correlated with intelligence and as such estimates individual differences. It does not, however, have anything to say about «effective cognitive performance (what intelligent people do)».^[12] Nor does it measure non-cognitive traits associated with academic success such as positive attitudes or conscientiousness.^[12][92] Psychometricians Thomas R. Coyle and David R. Pillow showed in 2008 that the SAT predicts college GPA even after removing the general factor of intelligence (g), with which it is highly correlated.^[93] A 2009 study found that SAT or ACT scores along with high-school GPAs are strong predictors of cumulative university GPAs. In particular, those with standardized test scores in the 50th percentile or better had a two-thirds chance of having a cumulative university GPA in the top half.^[94][13] A 2010 meta-analysis by researchers from the University of Minnesota offered evidence that standardized admissions tests such as the SAT predicted not only freshman GPA but also overall collegiate GPA.^[92][78] A 2012 study from the same university using a multi-institutional data set revealed that even after controlling for socioeconomic status and high-school GPA, SAT scores were still as capable of predicting freshman GPA among university or college students.^[95] A 2019 study with a sample size of around a quarter of a million students suggests that together, SAT scores and high-school GPA offer an excellent predictor of freshman collegiate GPA and second-year retention.^[12] In 2018, psychologists Oren R. Shewach, Kyle D. McNeal, Nathan R. Kuncel, and Paul R. Sackett showed that both high-school GPA and SAT scores predict enrollment in advanced collegiate courses, even after controlling for Advanced Placement credits.^[96][12]

Education economist Jesse M. Rothstein indicated in 2005 that high-school average SAT scores were better at predicting freshman university GPAs compared to individual SAT scores. In other words, a student’s SAT scores were not as informative with regards to future academic success as his or her high school’s average. In contrast, individual high-school GPAs were a better predictor of collegiate success than average high-school GPAs.^[97][98] Furthermore, an admissions officer who failed to take average SAT scores into account would risk overestimating the future performance of a student from a low-scoring school and underestimating that of a student from a high-scoring school.^[98]

Like other standardized tests such as the ACT or the GRE, the SAT is a traditional method for assessing the academic aptitude of students who have had vastly different educational experiences and as such is focused on the common materials that the students could reasonably be expected to have encountered throughout the course of study. As such the mathematics section contains no materials above the precalculus level, for instance. Psychologist Raymond Cattell referred to this as testing for «historical» rather than «current» crystallized intelligence.^[99] Psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman further noted that the SAT can only measure a snapshot of a person’s performance at a particular moment in time.^[100] Educational psychologists Jonathan Wai, David Lubinski, and Camilla Benbow observed that one way to increase the predictive validity of the SAT is by assessing the student’s spatial reasoning ability, as the SAT at present does not contain any questions to that effect. Spatial reasoning skills are important for success in STEM.^[101] A 2006 study led by psychometrician Robert Sternberg found that the ability of SAT scores and high-school GPAs to predict collegiate performance could further be enhanced by additional assessments of analytical, creative, and practical thinking.^[102][103]

Experimental psychologist Meredith Frey noted that while advances in education research and neuroscience can help incrementally improve the ability to predict scholastic achievement in the future, the SAT or other standardized tests like it will remain a valuable tool to build upon.^[12] In a 2014 op-ed for The New York Times, psychologist John D. Mayer called the predictive powers of the SAT «an astonishing achievement» and cautioned against making it and other standardized tests optional.^[104][13] Research by psychometricians David Lubinsky, Camilla Benbow, and their colleagues has shown that the SAT could even predict life outcomes beyond university.^[13]

Difficulty and relative weight[edit]

The SAT rigorously assesses students’ mental stamina, memory, speed, accuracy, and capacity for abstract and analytical reasoning.^[84] For American universities and colleges, standardized test scores are the most important factor in admissions, second only to high-school GPAs.^[103] By international standards, however, the SAT is not that difficult.^[105] For example, South Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and Finland’s Matriculation Examination are both longer, tougher, and count for more towards the admissibility of a student to university.^[106] In many countries around the world, exams, including university entrance exams, are the sole deciding factor of admission; school grades are simply irrelevant.^[105] In China and India, doing well on the Gaokao or the IIT-JEE, respectively, enhances the social status of the students and their families.^[107]

In an article from 2012, educational psychologist Jonathan Wai argued that the SAT was too easy to be useful to the most competitive of colleges and universities, whose applicants typically had brilliant high-school GPAs and standardized test scores. Admissions officers therefore had the burden of differentiating the top scorers from one another, not knowing whether or not the students’ perfect or near-perfect scores truly reflected their scholastic aptitudes. He suggested that the College Board make the SAT more difficult, which would raise the measurement ceiling of the test, allowing the top schools to identify the best and brightest among the applicants.^[108] At that time, the College Board was already working on making the SAT tougher.^[108] The changes were announced in 2014 and implemented in 2016.^[109]

After realizing the June 2018 test was easier than usual, the College Board made adjustments resulting in lower-than-expected scores, prompting complaints from the students, though some understood this was to ensure fairness.^[110] In its analysis of the incident, the Princeton Review supported the idea of curving grades, but pointed out that the test was incapable of distinguishing students in the 86th percentile (650 points) or higher in mathematics. The Princeton Review also noted that this particular curve was unusual in that it offered no cushion against careless or last-minute mistakes for high-achieving students.^[111] The Review posted a similar blog post for the SAT of August 2019, when a similar incident happened and the College Board responded in the same manner, noting, «A student who misses two questions on an easier test should not get as good a score as a student who misses two questions on a hard test. Equating takes care of that issue.» It also cautioned students against retaking the SAT immediately, for they might be disappointed again, and recommended that instead, they give themselves some «leeway» before trying again.^[112]

Recognition[edit]

Outside of the United States, the SAT is considered for university admissions in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and India, among dozens of other countries. About 4,000 institutions of higher learning worldwide accept the SAT, as of early 2022.^[113]

Association with general cognitive ability[edit]

In a 2000 study, psychometrician Ann M. Gallagher and her colleagues found that only the top students made use of intuitive reasoning in solving problems encountered on the mathematics section of the SAT.^[114] Cognitive psychologists Brenda Hannon and Mary McNaughton-Cassill discovered that having a good working memory, the ability of knowledge integration, and low levels of test anxiety predicts high performance on the SAT.^[115]

Frey and Detterman (2004) investigated associations of SAT scores with intelligence test scores. Using an estimate of general mental ability, or g, based on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, they found SAT scores to be highly correlated with g (r=.82 in their sample, .857 when adjusted for non-linearity) in their sample taken from a 1979 national probability survey. Additionally, they investigated the correlation between SAT results, using the revised and recentered form of the test, and scores on the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices, a test of fluid intelligence (reasoning), this time using a non-random sample. They found that the correlation of SAT results with scores on the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices was .483, they estimated that this correlation would have been about 0.72 were it not for the restriction of ability range in the sample. They also noted that there appeared to be a ceiling effect on the Raven’s scores which may have suppressed the correlation.^[116] Beaujean and colleagues (2006) have reached similar conclusions to those reached by Frey and Detterman.^[117] Because the SAT is strongly correlated with general intelligence, it can be used as a proxy to measure intelligence, especially when the time-consuming traditional methods of assessment are unavailable.^[12]

Psychometrician Linda Gottfredson noted that the SAT is effective at identifying intellectually gifted college-bound students.^[118]

For decades many critics have accused designers of the verbal SAT of cultural bias as an explanation for the disparity in scores between poorer and wealthier test-takers,^[119] with the biggest critics coming from the University of California system.^[120][121] A famous example of this perceived bias in the SAT I was the oarsman–regatta analogy question, which is no longer part of the exam. The object of the question was to find the pair of terms that had the relationship most similar to the relationship between «runner» and «marathon». The correct answer was «oarsman» and «regatta». The choice of the correct answer was thought to have presupposed students’ familiarity with rowing, a sport popular with the wealthy.^[122] However, for psychometricians, analogy questions are a useful tool to gauge the mental abilities of students, for, even if the meaning of two words are unclear, a student with sufficiently strong analytical thinking skills should still be able to identify their relationships.^[120] Analogy questions were removed in 2005.^[123] In their place are questions that provide more contextual information should the students be ignorant of the relevant definition of a word, making it easier for them to guess the correct answer.^[124]

Association with college or university majors and rankings[edit]

In 2010, physicists Stephen Hsu and James Schombert of the University of Oregon examined five years of student records at their school and discovered that the academic standing of students majoring in mathematics or physics (but not biology, English, sociology, or history) was strongly dependent on SAT mathematics scores. Students with an SAT mathematics scores below 600 were highly unlikely to excel as a mathematics or physics major. Nevertheless, they found no such patterns between the SAT verbal, or combined SAT verbal and mathematics and the other aforementioned subjects.^[125][126]

In 2015, educational psychologist Jonathan Wai of Duke University analyzed average test scores from the Army General Classification Test in 1946 (10,000 students), the Selective Service College Qualification Test in 1952 (38,420), Project Talent in the early 1970s (400,000), the Graduate Record Examination between 2002 and 2005 (over 1.2 million), and the SAT Math and Verbal in 2014 (1.6 million). Wai identified one consistent pattern: those with the highest test scores tended to pick the physical sciences and engineering as their majors while those with the lowest were more likely to choose education and agriculture. (See figure below.)^[126][127]

A 2020 paper by Laura H. Gunn and her colleagues examining data from 1389 institutions across the United States unveiled strong positive correlations between the average SAT percentiles of incoming students and the shares of graduates majoring in STEM and the social sciences. On the other hand, they found negative correlations between the former and the shares of graduates in psychology, theology, law enforcement, recreation and fitness.^[128]

Various researchers have established that average SAT or ACT scores and college ranking in the U.S. News & World Report are highly correlated, almost 0.9.^{[12][129][77][b]} Between the 1980s and the 2010s, the U.S. population grew while universities and colleges did not expand their capacities as substantially. As a result, admissions rates fell considerably, meaning it has become more difficult to get admitted to a school whose alumni include one’s parents. On top of that, high-scoring students nowadays are much more likely to leave their hometowns in pursuit of higher education at prestigious institutions. Consequently, standardized tests, such as the SAT, are a more reliable measure of selectivity than admissions rates. Still, when Michael J. Petrilli and Pedro Enamorado analyzed the SAT composite scores (math and verbal) of incoming freshman classes of 1985 and 2016 of the top universities and liberal arts colleges in the United States, they found that the median scores of new students increased by 93 points for their sample, from 1216 to 1309. In particular, fourteen institutions saw an increase of at least 150 points, including the University of Notre-Dame (from 1290 to 1440, or 150 points) and Elon College (from 952 to 1192, or 240 points).^[130]

Association with types of schooling[edit]

While there seems to be evidence that private schools tend to produce students who do better on standardized tests such as the ACT or the SAT, Keven Duncan and Jonathan Sandy showed, using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth, that when student characteristics, such as age, race, and sex (7%), family background (45%), school quality (26%), and other factors were taken into account, the advantage of private schools diminished by 78%. The researchers concluded that students attending private schools already had the attributes associated with high scores on their own.^[131]

Association with educational and societal standings and outcomes[edit]

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• 

Research from the University of California system published in 2001 analyzing data of their undergraduates between Fall 1996 through Fall 1999, inclusive, found that the SAT II^[c] was the single best predictor of collegiate success in the sense of freshman GPA, followed by high-school GPA, and finally the SAT I. After controlling for family income and parental education, the already low ability of the SAT to measure aptitude and college readiness fell sharply while the more substantial aptitude and college readiness measuring abilities of high school GPA and the SAT II each remained undiminished (and even slightly increased). The University of California system required both the SAT I and the SAT II from applicants to the UC system during the four academic years of the study.^[132] This analysis is heavily publicized but is contradicted by many studies.^[92]

There is evidence that the SAT is correlated with societal and educational outcomes,^[100] including finishing a four-year university program.^[133] A 2012 paper from psychologists at the University of Minnesota analyzing multi-institutional data sets suggested that the SAT maintained its ability to predict collegiate performance even after controlling for socioeconomic status (as measured by the combination of parental educational attainment and income) and high-school GPA. This means that SAT scores were not merely a proxy for measuring socioeconomic status, the researchers concluded.^[95][134] This finding has been replicated and shown to hold across racial or ethnic groups and for both sexes.^[12] Moreover, the Minnesota researchers found that the socioeconomic status distributions of the student bodies of the schools examined reflected those of their respective applicant pools.^[95] Because of what it measures, a person’s SAT scores cannot be separated from their socioeconomic background.^[100]

In 2007, Rebecca Zwick and Jennifer Greif Green observed that a typical analysis did not take into account that heterogeneity of the high schools attended by the students in terms of not just the socioeconomic statuses of the student bodies but also the standards of grading. Zwick and Greif Green proceeded to show that when these were accounted for, the correlation between family socioeconomic status and classroom grades and rank increased whereas that between socioeconomic status and SAT scores fell. They concluded that school grades and SAT scores were similarly associated with family income.^[97]

According to the College Board, in 2019, 56% of the test takers had parents with a university degree, 27% parents with no more than a high-school diploma, and about 9% who did not graduate from high school. (8% did not respond to the question.)^[36]

Association with family structures[edit]

One of the proposed partial explanations for the gap between Asian- and European-American students in educational achievement, as measured for example by the SAT, is the general tendency of Asians to come from stable two-parent households.^[135] In their 2018 analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, economists Adam Blandin, Christopher Herrington, and Aaron Steelman concluded that family structure played an important role in determining educational outcomes in general and SAT scores in particular. Families with only one parent who has no degrees were designated 1L, with two parents but no degrees 2L, and two parents with at least one degree between them 2H. Children from 2H families held a significant advantage of those from 1L families, and this gap grew between 1990 and 2010. Because the median SAT composite scores (verbal and mathematics) for 2H families grew by 20 points while those of 1L families fell by one point, the gap between them increased by 21 points, or a fifth of one standard deviation.^[133]

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, family sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox stated, «In the absence of SAT scores, which can pinpoint kids from difficult family backgrounds with great academic potential, family stability is likely to loom even larger in determining who makes it past the college finish line in California [whose public university system decided to stop requiring SAT and ACT scores for admissions in 2020].»^[88]

Sex differences[edit]

In performance[edit]

In 2013, the American College Testing Board released a report stating that boys outperformed girls on the mathematics section of the test,^[136] a significant gap that has persisted for over 35 years.^[137] As of 2015, boys on average earned 32 points more than girls on the SAT mathematics section. Among those scoring in the 700-800 range, the male-to-female ratio was 1.6:1.^[138] In 2014, psychologist Stephen Ceci and his collaborators found boys did better than girls across the percentiles. For example, a girl scoring in the top 10% of her sex would only be in the top 20% among the boys.^[139][140] In 2010, psychologist Jonathan Wai and his colleagues showed, by analyzing data from three decades involving 1.6 million intellectually gifted seventh graders from the Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP), that in the 1980s the gender gap in the mathematics section of the SAT among students scoring in the top 0.01% was 13.5:1 in favor of boys but dropped to 3.8:1 by the 1990s.^[141][140] The dramatic sex ratio from the 1980s replicates a different study using a sample from Johns Hopkins University.^[142] This ratio is similar to that observed for the ACT mathematics and science scores between the early 1990s and the late 2000s.^[141] It remained largely unaltered at the end of the 2000s.^[141][143] Sex differences in SAT mathematics scores began making themselves apparent at the level of 400 points and above.^[141]

Some researchers point to evidence in support of greater male variability in verbal and quantitative reasoning skills.^[144] Greater male variability has been found in body weight, height, and cognitive abilities across cultures, leading to a larger number of males in the lowest and highest distributions of testing.^[145] Consequently, a higher number of males are found in both the upper and lower extremes of the performance distributions of the mathematics sections of standardized tests such as the SAT, resulting in the observed gender discrepancy.^{[146][140][147]} Paradoxically, this is at odds with the tendency of girls to have higher classroom scores than boys,^[140] proving that they do not lack scholastic aptitude. However, boys tend to do better on standardized test questions not directly related to the curriculum.^[144]

On the other hand, Wai and his colleagues found that both sexes in the top 5% appeared to be more or less at parity when it comes to the verbal section of the SAT, though girls have gained a slight but noticeable edge over boys starting in the mid-1980s.^[142] Psychologist David Lubinski, who conducted longitudinal studies of seventh graders who scored exceptionally high on the SAT, found a similar result. Girls generally had better verbal reasoning skills and boys mathematical skills.^[147] This reflects other research on the cognitive ability of the general population rather than just the 95th percentile and up.^[142][147]

Although aspects of testing such as stereotype threat are a concern, research on the predictive validity of the SAT has demonstrated that it tends to be a more accurate predictor of female GPA in university as compared to male GPA.^[148]

In strategizing[edit]

Mathematical problems on the SAT can be broadly categorized into two groups: conventional and unconventional. Conventional problems can be handled routinely via familiar formulas or algorithms while unconventional ones require more creative thought in order to make unusual use of familiar methods of solution or to come up with the specific insights necessary for solving those problems. In 2000, ETS psychometrician Ann M. Gallagher and her colleagues analyzed how students handled disclosed SAT mathematics questions in self-reports. They found that for both sexes, the most favored approach was to use formulas or algorithms learned in class. When that failed, however, males were more likely than females to identify the suitable methods of solution. Previous research suggested that males were more likely to explore unusual paths to solution whereas females tended to stick to what they had learned in class and that females were more likely to identify the appropriate approaches if such required nothing more than mastery of classroom materials.^[114]

In confidence[edit]

Older versions of the SAT did ask students how confident they were in their mathematical aptitude and verbal reasoning ability, specifically, whether or not they believed they were in the top 10%. Devin G. Pope analyzed data of over four million test takers from the late 1990s to the early 2000s and found that high scorers were more likely to be confident they were in the top 10%, with the top scorers reporting the highest levels of confidence. But there were some noticeable gaps between the sexes. Men tended to be much more confident in their mathematical aptitude than women. For example, among those who scored 700 on the mathematics section, 67% of men answered they believed they were in the top 10% whereas only 56% of women did the same. Women, on the other hand, were slightly more confident in their verbal reasoning ability than men.^[149]

In glucose metabolism[edit]

Cognitive neuroscientists Richard Haier and Camilla Persson Benbow employed positron emission tomography (PET) scans to investigate the rate of glucose metabolism among students who have taken the SAT. They found that among men, those with higher SAT mathematics scores exhibited higher rates of glucose metabolism in the temporal lobes than those with lower scores, contradicting the brain-efficiency hypothesis. This trend, however, was not found among women, for whom the researchers could not find any cortical regions associated with mathematical reasoning. Both sexes scored the same on average in their sample and had the same rates of cortical glucose metabolism overall. According to Haier and Benbow, this is evidence for the structural differences of the brain between the sexes.^[150][15]

Association with race and ethnicity[edit]

A 2001 meta-analysis of the results of 6,246,729 participants tested for cognitive ability or aptitude found a difference in average scores between black and white students of around 1.0 standard deviation, with comparable results for the SAT (2.4 million test takers).^[151] Similarly, on average, Hispanic and Amerindian students perform on the order of one standard deviation lower on the SAT than white and Asian students.^{[152][153][154][155]} Mathematics appears to be the more difficult part of the exam.^[36] In 1996, the black-white gap in the mathematics section was 0.91 standard deviations, but by 2020, it fell to 0.79.^[156] In 2013, Asian Americans as a group scored 0.38 standard deviations higher than whites in the mathematics section.^[135]

Some researchers believe that the difference in scores is closely related to the overall achievement gap in American society between students of different racial groups. This gap may be explainable in part by the fact that students of disadvantaged racial groups tend to go to schools that provide lower educational quality. This view is supported by evidence that the black-white gap is higher in cities and neighborhoods that are more racially segregated.^[157] Other research cites poorer minority proficiency in key coursework relevant to the SAT (English and math), as well as peer pressure against students who try to focus on their schoolwork («acting white»).^[158] Cultural issues are also evident among black students in wealthier households, with high achieving parents. John Ogbu, a Nigerian-American professor of anthropology, concluded that instead of looking to their parents as role models, black youth chose other models like rappers and did not make an effort to be good students.^[159]

One set of studies has reported differential item functioning, namely, that some test questions function differently based on the racial group of the test taker, reflecting differences in ability to understand certain test questions or to acquire the knowledge required to answer them between groups. In 2003, Freedle published data showing that black students have had a slight advantage on the verbal questions that are labeled as difficult on the SAT, whereas white and Asian students tended to have a slight advantage on questions labeled as easy. Freedle argued that these findings suggest that «easy» test items use vocabulary that is easier to understand for white middle class students than for minorities, who often use a different language in the home environment, whereas the difficult items use complex language learned only through lectures and textbooks, giving both student groups equal opportunities to acquiring it.^{[160][161][162]} The study was severely criticized by the ETS board, but the findings were replicated in a subsequent study by Santelices and Wilson in 2010.^[163][164]

There is no evidence that SAT scores systematically underestimate future performance of minority students. However, the predictive validity of the SAT has been shown to depend on the dominant ethnic and racial composition of the college.^[165] Some studies have also shown that African-American students under-perform in college relative to their white peers with the same SAT scores; researchers have argued that this is likely because white students tend to benefit from social advantages outside of the educational environment (for example, high parental involvement in their education, inclusion in campus academic activities, positive bias from same-race teachers and peers) which result in better grades.^[166]

Christopher Jencks concludes that as a group, African Americans have been harmed by the introduction of standardized entrance exams such as the SAT. This, according to him, is not because the tests themselves are flawed, but because of labeling bias and selection bias; the tests measure the skills that African Americans are less likely to develop in their socialization, rather than the skills they are more likely to develop. Furthermore, standardized entrance exams are often labeled as tests of general ability, rather than of certain aspects of ability. Thus, a situation is produced in which African-American ability is consistently underestimated within the education and workplace environments, contributing in turn to selection bias against them which exacerbates underachievement.^[166]

Among the major racial or ethnic groups of the United States, gaps in SAT mathematics scores are the greatest at the tails, with Hispanic and Latino Americans being the most likely to score at the lowest range and Asian Americans the highest. In addition, there is some evidence suggesting that if the test contains more questions of both the easy and difficult varieties, which would increase the variability of the scores, the gaps would be even wider. Given the distribution for Asians, for example, many could score higher than 800 if the test allowed them to. (See figure below.)^[167]

2020 was the year in which education worldwide was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and indeed, the performance of students in the United States on standardized tests, such as the SAT, suffered. Yet the gaps persisted.^[168] According to the College Board, in 2020, while 83% of Asian students met the benchmark of college readiness in reading and writing and 80% in mathematics, only 44% and 21% of black students did those respective categories. Among whites, 79% met the benchmark for reading and writing and 59% did mathematics. For Hispanics and Latinos, the numbers were 53% and 30%, respectively. (See figure below.)^[156]

Test-taking population[edit]

By analyzing data from the National Center for Education Statistics, economists Ember Smith and Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution deduced that the number of students taking the SAT increased at a rate faster than population and high-school graduation growth rates between 2000 and 2020. The increase was especially pronounced among Hispanics and Latinos. Even among whites, whose number of high-school graduates was shrinking, the number of SAT takers rose.^[156] In 2015, for example, 1.7 million students took the SAT,^[33] up from 1.6 million in 2013.^[109] But in 2019, a record-breaking 2.2 million students took the exam, compared to 2.1 million in 2018, another record-breaking year.^[36] The rise in the number of students taking the SAT was due in part to many school districts offering to administer the SAT during school days often at no further costs to the students.^[36] However, in 2021, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the optional status of the SAT at many colleges and universities, only 1.5 million students took the test.^[169] But this number went up to 1.7 million in 2022, as ambitious students took the test in order to make themselves stand out from the competition.^[170]

Psychologists Jean Twenge, W. Keith Campbell, and Ryne A. Sherman analyzed vocabulary test scores on the U.S. General Social Survey () and found that after correcting for education, the use of sophisticated vocabulary has declined between the mid-1970s and the mid-2010s across all levels of education, from below high school to graduate school. However, they cautioned against the use of SAT verbal scores to track the decline for while the College Board reported that SAT verbal scores had been decreasing, these scores were an imperfect measure of the vocabulary level of the nation as a whole because the test-taking demographic has changed and because more students took the SAT in the 2010s than in the 1970s, meaning there were more with limited ability who took it.^[38] However, as the frequency of reading for pleasure and the level of reading comprehension among American high-school students continue to decline, students who take the SAT might struggle to do well, even if reforms have been introduced to shorten the duration of the test and to reduce the number of questions associated with a given passage in the verbal portion of the test.^[171]

Use in non-collegiate contexts[edit]

By high-IQ societies[edit]

Certain high IQ societies, like Mensa, Intertel, the Prometheus Society and the Triple Nine Society, use scores from certain years as one of their admission tests. For instance, Intertel accepts scores (verbal and math combined) of at least 1300 on tests taken through January 1994;^[172] the Triple Nine Society accepts scores of 1450 or greater on SAT tests taken before April 1995, and scores of at least 1520 on tests taken between April 1995 and February 2005.^[173] Mensa accepts qualifying SAT scores earned on or before January 31, 1994.

By researchers[edit]

Because it is strongly correlated with general intelligence, the SAT has often been used as a proxy to measure intelligence by researchers, especially since 2004.^[12] In particular, scientists studying mathematically gifted individuals have been using the mathematics section of the SAT to identify subjects for their research.^[14]

A growing body of research indicates that SAT scores can predict individual success decades into the future, for example in terms of income and occupational achievements.^[12][19][78] A longitudinal study published in 2005 by educational psychologists Jonathan Wai, David Lubinski, and Camilla Benbow suggests that among the intellectually precocious (the top 1%), those with higher scores in the mathematics section of the SAT at the age of 12 were more likely to earn a PhD in the STEM fields, to have a publication, to register a patent, or to secure university tenure.^[174][126] Wai further showed that an individual’s academic ability, as measured by the average SAT or ACT scores of the institution attended, predicted individual differences in income, even among the richest people of all, and being a member of the ‘American elite’, namely Fortune 500 CEOs, billionaires, federal judges, and members of Congress.^[175][12] Wai concluded that the American elite was also the cognitive elite.^[175] Gregory Park, Lubinski, and Benbow gave statistical evidence that intellectually gifted adolescents, as identified by SAT scores, could be expected to accomplish great feats of creativity in the future, both in the arts and in STEM.^[176][12]

The SAT is sometimes given to students at age 12 or 13 by organizations such as the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY), Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and the Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP) to select, study, and mentor students of exceptional ability, that is, those in the top one percent.^[15] Among SMPY participants, those within the top quartile, as indicated by the SAT composite score (mathematics and verbal), were markedly more likely to have a doctoral degree, to have at least one publication in STEM, to earn income in the 95th percentile, to have at least one literary publication, or to register at least one patent than those in the bottom quartile. Duke TIP participants generally picked career tracks in STEM should they be stronger in mathematics, as indicated by SAT mathematics scores, or the humanities if they possessed greater verbal ability, as indicated by SAT verbal scores. For comparison, the bottom SMPY quartile is five times more likely than the average American to have a patent. Meanwhile, as of 2016, the shares doctorates among SMPY participants was 44% and Duke TIP 37%, compared to two percent among the general U.S. population.^[16] Consequently, the notion that beyond a certain point, differences in cognitive ability as measured by standardized tests such as the SAT cease to matter is gainsaid by the evidence.^[177]

In the 2010 paper which showed that the sex gap in SAT mathematics scores had dropped dramatically between the early 1980s and the early 1990s but had persisted for the next two decades or so, Wai and his colleagues argued that «sex differences in abilities in the extreme right tail should not be dismissed as no longer part of the explanation for the dearth of women in math-intensive fields of science.»^[141][178]

By employers[edit]

Cognitive ability is correlated with job training outcomes and job performance.^[92][18] As such, some employers rely on SAT scores to assess the suitability of a prospective recruit,^[19] especially if the person has limited work experience.^[18] There is nothing new about this practice.^[17] Major companies and corporations have spent princely sums on learning how to avoid hiring errors and have decided that standardized test scores are a valuable tool in deciding whether or not a person is fit for the job. In some cases, a company might need to hire someone to handle proprietary materials of its own making, such as computer software. But since the ability to work with such materials cannot be assessed via external certification, it makes sense for such a firm to rely on something that is a proxy of measuring general intelligence.^[19] In other cases, a firm may not care about academic background but needs to assess a prospective recruit’s quantitative reasoning ability, and what makes standardized test scores necessary.^[17] Several companies, especially those considered to be the most prestigious in industries such as investment banking and management consulting such as Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, have been reported to ask prospective job candidates about their SAT scores.^{[179][180][181][182]} According to the Wall Street Journal, the scores are used similarly to how they are in college admissions, in that companies claim they provide insight into the intellectual capabilities and problem-solving skills of an individual.^[179]

Nevertheless, some other top employers, such as Google, have eschewed the use of SAT or other standardized test scores unless the potential employee is a recent graduate because for their purposes, these scores «don’t predict anything.» Educational psychologist Jonathan Wai suggested this might be due to the inability of the SAT to differentiate the intellectual capacities of those at the extreme right end of the distribution of intelligence. Wai told The New York Times, «Today the SAT is actually too easy, and that’s why Google doesn’t see a correlation. Every single person they get through the door is a super-high scorer.»^[19]

Perception[edit]

Math–verbal achievement gap[edit]

In 2002, New York Times columnist Richard Rothstein argued that the U.S. math averages on the SAT and ACT continued their decade-long rise over national verbal averages on the tests while the averages of verbal portions on the same tests were floundering.^[183]

Optional SAT[edit]

In the 1960s and 1970s there was a movement to drop achievement scores. After a period of time, the countries, states and provinces that reintroduced them agreed that academic standards had dropped, students had studied less, and had taken their studying less seriously. They reintroduced the tests after studies and research concluded that the high-stakes tests produced benefits that outweighed the costs.^[184]

In a 2001 speech to the American Council on Education, Richard C. Atkinson, the president of the University of California, urged the dropping admissions tests such as the SAT I but not achievement tests such as the SAT II^[c] as a college admissions requirement.^[185] Atkinson’s critique of the predictive validity and powers of the SAT has been contested by the University of California academic senate.^[88][89] In April 2020, the academic senate, which consisted of faculty members, voted 51–0 to restore the requirement of standardized test scores. However, the governing board overruled the senate. Because of the size of the Californian population, this decision might have an impact on U.S. higher education at large; schools looking to admit Californian students could have a harder time.^[103]

During the 2010s, over 1,230 American universities and colleges opted to stop requiring the SAT and the ACT for admissions, according to FairTest, an activist group opposing standardized entrance exams. Most, however, were small colleges, with the notable exceptions of the University of California system and the University of Chicago.^[186] Also on the list are institutions catering to niche students, such as religious colleges, arts and music conservatories, or nursing schools, and the majority of institutions in the Northeastern United States.^[32] On one hand, making the SAT and the ACT optional for admissions enables schools to attract a larger pool of applicants of a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.^[31] On the other hand, letters of recommendation are not a good indicator of collegiate performance,^[31] and grade inflation is a genuine problem.^{[31][103][187]} If standardized tests were taken out of the picture, school grades would become more important, thereby incentivizing grade inflation.^[188] In fact, grades in American high schools have been inflating by noticeable amounts due to pressure from parents, creating an apparent oversupply of high achievers that makes actual high-performing students struggle to stand out, especially if they are from low-income families.^[189] Schools that made the SAT optional therefore lose an objective measure of academic aptitude and readiness,^[12] and they will have to formulate a new methodology for admissions or to develop their own entrance exams.^[186] Given that the selectivity of a school a student applies to is correlated with the resources of his or her high school—measured in terms of the availability of rigorous courses, such as AP classes, and the socioeconomic statuses of the student body—, making the SAT optional might exacerbate social inequities. Furthermore, since the costs of attending institutions of higher learning in the United States are high, eliminating the SAT requirement could make said institutions more likely to admit under-performing students, who might have to be removed for their low academic standing and who might be saddled with debt after attending.^[12] Another criticism of making the SAT optional is that subjective measures of an applicant’s suitability, such as application essays, could become more important, making it easier for the rich to gain admissions at the expense of the poor because their school counselors are more capable of writing good letters of recommendation and they can afford to hire external help to boost their applications.^[188] It was due to these concerns that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) decided to reinstate its SAT requirement in 2022.^[190]

Despite the fallout from Operation Varsity Blues, which found many wealthy parents illegally intervening to raise their children’s standardized test scores, the SAT and the ACT remain popular among American parents and college-bound seniors,^[191] who are skeptical of the process of «holistic admissions» because they think is rather vague and uncertain, as schools try to access characteristics not easily discerned via a number, hence the growth in the number of test takers attempting to make themselves more competitive even if this parallels an increase in the number of schools declaring it optional.^[33][34] Holistic admissions notwithstanding, when merit-based scholarships are considered, standardized test scores might be the tiebreakers, as these are highly competitive.^[34] Scholarships and financial aid could help students and their parents significantly cut the cost of higher education, especially in times of economic hardship.^[35] Moreover, the most selective of schools might have no better options than using standardized test scores in order to quickly prune the number of applications worth considering, for holistic admissions consume valuable time and other resources.^[103]

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, around 1,600 institutions decided to waive the requirement of the SAT or the ACT for admissions because it was challenging both to administer and to take these tests, resulting in many cancellations.^[192] Some schools chose to make them optional on a temporary basis only, either for just one year, as in the case of Princeton University, or three, like the College of William & Mary. Others dropped the requirement completely.^[33] Some schools extended their moratorium on standardized entrance exams in 2021.^[103] This did not stop highly ambitious students from taking them, however,^[33][34] as many parents and teenagers were skeptical of the «optional» status of university entrance exams^[34] and wanted to make their applications more likely to catch the attention of admission officers.^[35] This led to complaints of registration sites crashing in the summer of 2020.^[192] On the other hand, the number of students applying to the more competitive of schools that had made SAT and ACT scores optional increased dramatically because the students thought they stood a chance.^{[103][193][194]} Ivy League institutions saw double-digit increases in the number of applications, as high as 51% in the case of Columbia University, while their admission rates, already in the single digits, fell, e.g. from 4.9% in 2020 to just 3.4% in 2021 at Harvard University.^[195][196] At the same time, interest in lower-status schools that did the same thing dropped precipitously.^[194] In all, 44% of students who used the Common Application—accepted by over 900 colleges and universities as of 2021—submitted SAT or ACT scores in 2020–21, down from 77% in 2019–20. Those who did submit their test scores tended to hail from high-income families, to have at least one university-educated parent, and to be white or Asian.^[188]

Writing section[edit]

In 2005, MIT Writing Director Les Perelman plotted essay length versus essay score on the new SAT from released essays and found a high correlation between them. After studying over 50 graded essays, he found that longer essays consistently produced higher scores. In fact, he argues that by simply gauging the length of an essay without reading it, the given score of an essay could likely be determined correctly over 90% of the time. He also discovered that several of these essays were full of factual errors; the College Board does not claim to grade for factual accuracy.

Perelman, along with the National Council of Teachers of English, also criticized the 25-minute writing section of the test for damaging standards of writing teaching in the classroom. They say that writing teachers training their students for the SAT will not focus on revision, depth, accuracy, but will instead produce long, formulaic, and wordy pieces.^[197] «You’re getting teachers to train students to be bad writers», concluded Perelman.^[198]

On January 19, 2021, the College Board announced that the SAT would no longer offer the optional essay section after the June 2021 administration.^[10][11]

History[edit]

The College Board, the non-profit organization that owns the SAT, was organized at the beginning of the 20th century to provide uniform entrance exams for its member colleges, whose matriculating students often came from boarding and private day schools found in the Northeastern United States. The exams were essay-based, graded by hand, and required several days for the student to take them.^[199][200] By the early 1920s, the increasing interest in intelligence tests as a means of selection convinced the College Board to form a commission to produce such a test for college admission purposes. The leader of the commission was Carl Brigham, a psychologist at Princeton University, who originally saw the value of these types of tests through the lens of eugenic thought.^[199]

In June, 1926, the first SAT, then known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, was administered to about 8,000 students, many of whom were applying to Yale University and Smith College.^[201] In 1934, James Conant and Henry Chauncey used the SAT as a means to identify recipients, besides those from the traditional northeastern private schools, for scholarships to Harvard University. By 1942, the College Board suspended the use of the essay exams, replacing them with the SAT, due in part to the success of Harvard’s SAT program as well as because of the constraints from the onset of World War II.^[199] At this time, the SAT was standardized so that a test score received by a student in one year could be directly compared to a score received by a student in another year. Test scores ranged from 200 to 800 on each of two test sections (verbal and math) and the same reference group of students was used to standardize the SAT until 1995.^[202]

After the war, due to several factors including the formation of the Educational Testing Service,^[203] the use of the SAT increased rapidly: by 1951, about 80,000 SATs were taken, rising to about 1.5 million in 1971.^[204] During this time, changes made to the content of the SAT were relatively minor, and included the introduction of sentence completion questions and «quantitative comparison» math questions as well as changes in the timing of the test. In 1994, however, the SAT was substantially changed in an attempt to make the test more closely reflect the work done by students in school and the skills that they would need in college. Among other changes, antonym questions were removed from the verbal section, and free response questions were added to the math section along with the use of calculators.^[121] In 1995, after nearly forty years of declining scores, the SAT was recalibrated by the addition of approximately 100 points to each score to compensate for the decline in what constituted an average score.

In 2005, the SAT was changed again, in part due to criticism of the test by the University of California system, which said that the test was not closely enough aligned to high school curricula.^[123] Along with the elimination of analogies from the verbal section and quantitative comparison items from the math section,^[121] a new writing section with an essay was added.^[205] The changes introduced an additional section score, increasing the maximum SAT score to 2400.^[206]

In early 2016, the SAT would change again in the interest of alignment with typical high school curricula.^[207][208] The changes included making the essay optional (and returning the maximum score to 1600), changing all multiple-choice questions from having five answer options to four, and the removal of penalty for wrong answers (rights-only scoring).^[209][210] The essay was completely removed from the SAT by mid-2021, in the interest of reducing demands on students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[192]

In January 2022, College Board announced that the SAT would be administered digitally to all test takers by 2024. The digital format of the test is expected to be shorter than the current paper-based test and will allow scores to be determined in a matter of days rather than weeks.^[169]

Name changes[edit]

The SAT has been renamed several times since its introduction in 1926. It was originally known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test.^[211][121] In 1990, a commission set up by the College Board to review the proposed changes to the SAT program recommended that the meaning of the initialism SAT be changed to «Scholastic Assessment Test» because a «test that integrates measures of achievement as well as developed ability can no longer be accurately described as a test of aptitude».^[212][213] In 1993, the College Board changed the name of the test to SAT I: Reasoning Test; at the same time, the name of the Achievement Tests was changed to SAT II: Subject Tests.^[211] The Reasoning Test and Subject Tests were to be collectively known as the Scholastic Assessment Tests. According to the president of the College Board at the time, the name change was meant «to correct the impression among some people that the SAT measures something that is innate and impervious to change regardless of effort or instruction.»^[214] The new SAT debuted in March 1994, and was referred to as the Scholastic Assessment Test by major news organizations.^[215][216] However, in 1997, the College Board announced that the SAT could not properly be called the Scholastic Assessment Test, and that the letters SAT did not stand for anything.^[217] In 2004, the Roman numeral in SAT I: Reasoning Test was dropped, making SAT Reasoning Test the name of the SAT.^[211] The «Reasoning Test» portion of the name was eliminated following the exam’s 2016 redesign; it is now simply called the SAT.^[218]

Reuse of old SAT exams[edit]

The College Board has been accused of completely reusing old SAT papers previously given in the United States.^[219] The recycling of questions from previous exams has been exploited to allow for cheating on exams and impugned the validity of some students’ test scores, according to college officials. Test preparation companies in Asia have been found to provide test questions to students within hours of a new SAT exam’s administration.^[220][221]

On August 25, 2018, the SAT test given in America was discovered to be a recycled October 2017 international SAT test given in China. The leaked PDF file was on the internet before the August 25, 2018 exam.^[222]

See also[edit]

• ACT (test), a college entrance exam, competitor to the SAT
• College admissions in the United States
• List of admissions tests
• PSAT/NMSQT
• SAT Subject Tests

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Coyle, T.; Snyder, A.; Pillow, D.; Kochunov, P. (2011). «SAT predicts GPA better for high ability subjects: Implications for Spearman’s Law of Diminishing Returns». Personality and Individual Differences. 50 (4): 470–74. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.11.009. PMC 3090148. PMID 21562615.
• Gladwell, Malcolm (December 17, 2001). «Examined Life: What Stanley H. Kaplan taught us about the S.A.T.» The New Yorker.
• Gould, Stephen Jay (1996). The Mismeasure of Man (Rev/Expd ed.). W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-31425-0.
• Hoffman, Banesh (1962). The Tyranny of Testing. Orig. pub. Collier. ISBN 978-0-486-43091-1. (and others)
• Hubin, David R. (1988). The Scholastic Aptitude Test: Its Development and Introduction, 1900–1948. Ph.D. dissertation in American History at the University of Oregon. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016.
• Kang, Jay Caspian (September 9, 2021). «Why SAT Test Prep Doesn’t Help Who You Might Think It Helps». The New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
• Owen, David (1999). None of the Above: The Truth Behind the SATs (Revised ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-9507-2.
• Sacks, Peter (2001). Standardized Minds: The High Price of America’s Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It. Perseus. ISBN 978-0-7382-0433-8.
• Zwick, Rebecca (2002). Fair Game? The Use of Standardized Admissions Tests in Higher Education. Falmer. ISBN 978-0-415-92560-0.

External links[edit]

• Official website

The SAT was first introduced in 1926, and since then it has continued to be a major test for college admissions standardized testing.

But what does SAT actually stand for? To answer that question, we have to look more closely at the history of the SAT. The truth is that the name of the test has changed four times over the past 90 years!

Knowing how the name of the SAT has changed can help you better understand the significance of this major test in the college admissions process. The reasons point to controversies and scandals about the test that have affected how the test is perceived by colleges. Continue reading to find more about the history of the SAT and the reasoning behind the name.

The Very Beginning: 1899

The College Board (formerly the College Entrance Examination Board) was organized at Columbia University on December 22, 1899. The board consisted of 12 universities and three private high schools, including well-known schools like Columbia, Princeton, and Cornell. (Fun fact: all of these schools are Ivy League schools!) 

The goal of this board was to agree on a set of standards that should be taught in high school and and to create a test that could assess how well students were prepared in these subjects.

Before this point, there really was no reliable way to compare students to each other on a national level. Students from different schools would have different grades and different teachers, and it would be hard for a college to reliably compare students to each other. The College Board aimed to solve this problem by establishing standardized learning objectives and clear methods for assessing students’ readiness for college admission. 

So what subjects did the College board want to teach and access? In the early years of the College Board, Botany, Chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics, Physics, and Zoology were deemed the core subjects. Since that time, Botany and Zoology have been merged into Biology, and Greek and Latin are clearly no longer popular languages!

The very first test given by the College Board was in 1901, but this was a prototype essay test. They retooled the test for a while, and then came out with the very first SAT in 1926.

In 1926, the SAT was launched…and so was the National Broadcasting Company, which is now known as NBC!

1926: The Scholastic Aptitude Test

The SAT began life as an acronym: the Scholastic Aptitude Test. To be precise about what this name means, let’s define the words:

Scholastic : «of or concerning schools and education; academic»

So we know that this test relates to the student’s education in some way. Now, let’s define «aptitude»: 

Aptitude : «a natural ability to do something; talent»

Whoa, wait a second. «Natural ability» and «talent» refer to a quality that you’re born with and don’t have the ability to change. Aptitude implies that some people are born good at certain things while others aren’t so lucky . . . and that’s just how it’ll stay for the rest of their lives. 

Yes, that’s right—the SAT was originally designed to be more like an IQ test . The suggestion was that people with higher IQs were more likely to succeed in college and in life. Based on that notion, the College Board believed that you couldn’t score higher on the test by preparing. The questions on the test were specifically designed NOT to test things that you had already learned in school. That’s what lies behind the loaded term «aptitude.»

This also explains part of why the SAT is such a weird test and tests questions that you’ve never seen before in school. Even now, over 100 years since the College Board was founded, high school students are still feeling the legacy of the test.

Despite its flaws, the introduction of the SAT was actually a huge game-changer for high school students. In the past, elite colleges would select from prestigious high schools that were known for serving wealthy, white families. The SAT enabled colleges to compare students across the country to each other and identify promising students that didn’t fit the traditional student mold. Given these benefits, more and more colleges began requiring the SAT as part of their admissions.

But remember how this was meant to be an «aptitude» test? Over time, that became an issue. People began pointing out flaws in the claim that the SAT only measures students’ aptitude.

First, test prep companies began showing that they could improve test scores through dedicated test prep (which still holds true for today’s SAT prep programs). This means that the SAT doesn’t test purely innate ability—you can learn to get better on this test.

Second, ideas around education began changing. Whereas people once thought academic ability had to do with natural talent, we now know it has a lot to do with environmental factors and individual character.

With all this controversy, the College Board decided to change the test name again, this time calling it the Scholastic Assessment Test.

In 1993, the College Board renamed the SAT again (sorta). This was the same year Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize. 

1993: Scholastic Assessment Test

Facing pressure behind the «aptitude» part of the SAT, the College Board renamed the test to the Scholastic Assessment Test in 1993. Specifically, what we know as the SAT was called the SAT I: Reasoning Test. The subject tests were called SAT II: Subject Tests.

This shift was in response to the faulty idea that preparation for these tests would not improve scores. It was clear that test prep could improve SAT scores, and suggesting otherwise was misleading. That’s why the word “aptitude” was removed from the name of the SAT in 1993.

At this point, the College Board decided that the SAT should better assess student growth in «high school curricula» and test the skills used in college and career work.

But wait — doesn’t «assessment» also mean «test?» So this would be like calling the SAT the Scholastic Test Test.

Partly for this reason and others, the College Board decided to issue a new statement: SAT no longer means anything.

1997: SAT No Longer Means Anything

«The SAT has become the trademark; it doesn’t stand for anything,» said Scott Jeffe, a spokesman for the College Board in New York. »The SAT is the SAT, and that’s all it is.»

But why keep the SAT name at all if it doesn’t mean anything?  By the time the name was changed again in 1997, millions of students were taking the SAT. Generations of students recognized the SAT name and it was a fixture in the culture of college admissions. Changing the name — say, to the ART, or «Academic Reasoning Test» — would be confusing for students, parents, and colleges. 

So what does SAT stand for? Now you know — the SAT no longer stands for anything. It escaped the original problems involved in calling it an «aptitude» test and now avoids the redundancy in «assessment test» by simplifying the name to just SAT. 

Today, the SAT continues reinventing itself to become a better test. Though it’s possible that the name of the test will change again in the future, the current SAT name eliminates controversy and presents a recognizable brand for college applicants around the world. 

What’s Next?

Now that you know about the SAT, it’s time to take the test. But what’s a good SAT score for you? Read this guide to find out.

If you want to go to a top college, you’ll need to get a high SAT score. If you’re interested in making a perfect 1600 on the SAT, we’ve got the guide for you.

One way to boost your score is to use tried-and-true SAT testing strategies. Here are 23 strategies you should master before taking the SAT! 

We also wrote a popular free guide to the top 5 tips to improve your SAT score by 160 points or more:

Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article!

If you’re a high school student thinking about going to college after graduation, you know that you’ll need to take a couple of exams for your admittance into the school of your choice. One of those exams is the SAT.

SAT Study Guide | SAT Practice Test

What’s the Purpose of the SAT?

Many colleges around the country require scores from the SAT as part of your admissions process. The score you receive on this exam is a major component of your college application. The score that you receive on the SAT helps colleges determine who they will accept. The SAT measures how well test-takers can analyze and solve problems which are skills that are typically learned while in school and will be needed in college.

Now that you understand the purpose of the SAT a little more and why it’s important for your college application, let’s take a look at what the letters S-A-T really mean.

What is the Highest Possible SAT Score? | What is a Good SAT Score?

SAT Course

The SAT exam has been around for over 90 years. The first SAT exam was introduced in 1926 and at this time, SAT stood for “Scholastic Aptitude Test”. The SAT exam was an assessment that was designed to evaluate a student’s college-specific skills. However, word “aptitude” means “the natural ability to do something” and the SAT exam was not necessarily a measure of aptitude because you’ve had the opportunity to learn the subject rather than have a natural ability to already know it.

SAT Math

So, because the SAT wasn’t necessarily an aptitude test, the College Board changed the exam to Scholastic Assessment Test in 1993 and the test was divided into two parts: SAT 1: Reasoning Test and SAT 2: Subject Tests. After the name change, the SAT test was viewed to be more accurate by being labeled as an “assessment” because the SAT evaluated how you grew intellectually during your time in high school.

SAT Writing

In 1997, the College Board ran into another issue with the name for the SAT; they found that “assessment” is a synonym for the word “test” which turned the Scholastic Assessment Test into the Scholastic Test Test. So, because of this, the College Board changed the exam’s name again to SAT, with “SAT” no longer meaning anything. Now the “SAT” is just the SAT.

SAT Reading

SAT FAQ

What does the acronym SAT stand for?

The acronym SAT stands for Scholastic Assessment Test.

Has SAT always stood for Scholastic Assessment Test?

No. From the 20’s until the early 90’s, SAT stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Why did the name change for the SAT?

The name Scholastic Aptitude Test was changed to Scholastic Assessment Test

How long as the SAT been in existence?

The SAT has been in existence for over 90 years.

Was the SAT test always one exam?

No. In 1993, the SAT exam was divided into two parts: SAT 1: Reasoning Test and SAT 2: Subject Tests.

When was the SAT renamed “SAT”?

The SAT was renamed “SAT” in 1997 when the College Board found that “assessment” was a synonym for the word “test”.

What does “SAT” mean now?

“SAT” does not mean anything now. The “SAT” is simply just “SAT”.

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Scholastic Aptitude Test

What is on the French SAT Subject Test?

The French test includes reading only—you read in French and answer multiple-choice questions. The French with Listening test also includes a listening portion—you listen in French and answer multiple-choice questions.

What is the meaning of SAT SAT?

Is Bachelor a French word?

bachelor → licence, célibataire, garçon. bachelor → célibataire, bachelier.

What is a bachelor’s degree in France?

A Bachelor in France typically takes a minimum of three years of full-time study to complete. There are also options for a Bachelor in France that include part-time and online studies for students that require flexibility in scheduling.

What is master’s degree called in French?

diplôme national de master

What is degree called in French?

There are three types of university degrees in France: Licence (L1, L2, L3) is an undergraduate degree awarded after a period of study lasting 6 semesters (3 years). Master’s (M1, M2) is a graduate degree awarded after a period of study lasting 2 years (a total of 5 years’ study).

How long is a French masters degree?

two years

What to do with a Masters in French?

You’ll also be qualified to teach French as an adjunct professor, or at the elementary or secondary school level. Beyond the classroom, a master’s in French can lead to jobs like International Aid Director, Curator, Cultural Interpreter, Sommelier, International Development Worker, and International Business Advisor.

Is France Good for Masters?

It’s renowned for its prestigious higher education system Home to some of the world’s most remarkable universities and outstanding business schools, it’s no wonder France is the fourth most popular study destination in the world.

Why does France have a masters?

France is the ideal place to study abroad for your degree thanks to its rich culture, gastronomy, architecture, and thriving student life! Studying in France gives you the opportunity to learn the language and gain cultural perspective.

Is studying in France worth it?

Yes, this applies to paying universities too. But at free universities, it’s worth mentioning because you could go to a non-free-university abroad, and you will not pay tuition, as your free university will cover it. As you can imagine, it’s absolutely worth doing!

Why do French do MBA?

An MBA in France offers access to quality business education, interesting markets, and diverse networking opportunities. HEC Paris also ranks as one of the top business schools in the world, ranking at number two in the top European MBA rankings according to the Financial Times, and number 16 globally as of 2015.

Is MBA from France worth it?

France’s higher education is rated amongst the top in the world for its content and quality. Business schools like HEC Paris and INSEAD feature in the World Top 20 colleges. And if the cost is a concern, you can find excellent quality with these 10 affordable MBA Programs in France.

Is MBA free in France?

COST OF AN MBA PROGRAM IN FRANCE One-year MBA course can cost a student around 20,000 Euros. But there are many scholarships sponsored by the government. The universities offer various scholarships depending upon the GMAT score of the applicant. Universities offer 40% of the total fees as scholarship.

How do you say MBA in French?

Translations of MBA abreviatura de “Master of Business Administration”: Maestría en Administración de Negocios, master en administración de empresas…

How can I study MBA in France?

Specifically, for MS courses and MBA Programmes. With 11 triple accredited Business schools, France is following in UK’s footsteps of providing the best of education….College Fees.

UNIVERSITY NAME	TUITION FEE
Reims Management School (RMS)	25000 EUR
EDHEC Business School	32500 EUR
HEC Paris	45,000 EUR

What does an MBA program consist of?

MBA programs typically include core classes in accounting, management, finance, marketing, and business law. Management training is at the heart of any MBA curriculum, with a focus on leadership, planning, business strategy, organizational behavior, and the more human sides of running a large or small business.

Is an MBA better than a masters?

Business Masters vs MBA degree. While the MBA is suited to students from any academic or professional background who want greater career flexibility, management roles, or business ownership, Masters programmes are the better option for students who want highly specialised knowledge in a specific area.

What is MBA salary?

The average salary of entry-level MBA salary in India is of Rs 290,000. But with just 1 to 4 years experience, Early career MBA Salary in India can grow up to Rs 390,000 or more. Generally, the salary of MBA graduates in India grows up exponentially with experience.

Which field is best in MBA?

Most In-Demand MBA Specializations

1. General Management. Of all the specialized MBA programs, General Management is consistently one of the most popular.
2. International Management.
3. Strategy.
4. Consulting.
5. Finance Leadership.
6. Entrepreneurship.
7. Marketing.
8. Operations Management.

Which type of MBA is in demand?

A number of MBA specializations in demand include fields like Marketing, Finance, International Business, Human Resources Operations Management, Information Systems and Supply Chain Management. This reflects the increasing role of interdisciplinary paradigm in industry and corporate sector.

What type of MBA is right for me?

Traditionally, Finance, Marketing, International Management, Human Resources, IT/Systems, Operations Management and Entrepreneurship have been the most sought-after MBA specialisations. They are considered the safest career options by most students. However, with time and technology, business needs are changing.

Is MBA good for future?

MBAs are great for a career change and thriving business opportunities. Graduates of part-time or full-time MBA programs have higher chances of holding a high-level management position and enjoying successful MBA careers. Over 50% of MBA graduates worldwide are senior managers or board directors.

Is MBA losing its value?

No, MBA does not losing its value! That means mba is still in trend and aspirants are looking for it. Quality education and good students are always in trend.

Why is MBA so expensive?

Why is MBA costlier than other courses? It is a well-known fact that MBA is also among the most expensive courses to study globally. Aspirants pay hefty fees to complete the two-year programme. So the course includes a large amount of money apart from the tuition fees of the B Schools.

Which MBA has more job opportunities?

Entrepreneurship is another MBA specialization that offers high salaries. Top salary positions after MBA in Entrepreneurship includes: Senior product manager , marketing director, product manager(software), business development director, business development manager, chief financial officer and director of operations.

Who Earns More CA or MBA?

The average salary of a CA in India is between Rs 7-10 lakh. As far as MBAs are concerned, their salary package depends on their employer. Those who graduate from top IIMs command a salary of Rs 18-22 LPA, but the same is not true for those graduates who pass out from Tier-II and Tier-III colleges.

The SAT is a standardized test administered by the College Board, a non-profit organization that runs other programs including the PSAT (Preliminary SAT), AP (Advanced Placement) and CLEP (College-Level Examination Project). The SAT along with the ACT are the primary entrance exams used by colleges and universities in the United States.

The SAT and the Problem of «Aptitude»

The letters SAT originally stood for the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The idea of «aptitude,» one’s natural ability, was central to the exam’s origins. The SAT was supposed to be an exam that tested one’s abilities, not one’s knowledge. As such, it was supposed to be an exam for which students could not study, and it would provide colleges with a useful tool for measuring and comparing the potential of students from different schools and backgrounds.

The reality, however, was that students could indeed prepare for the exam and that the test was measuring something other than aptitude. Not surprisingly, the College Board changed the name of the exam to the Scholastic Assessment Test, and later to the SAT Reasoning Test. Today the letters SAT stand for nothing at all. In fact, the evolution of the meaning of «SAT» highlights many of the problems associated with the exam: it’s never been entirely clear what it is that the test measures.

The SAT competes with the ACT, the other widely used exam for college admissions in the United States. The ACT, unlike the SAT, has never focused on the idea of «aptitude.» Instead, the ACT tests what students have learned in school. Historically, the tests have been different in meaningful ways, and students who do poorly on one might do better on the other. In recent years, the ACT surpassed the SAT as the most widely used college admissions entrance exam. In response to both its loss of market share and criticisms about the very substance of the exam, the SAT launched an entirely redesigned exam in the spring of 2016. If you were to compare the SAT to the ACT today, you’d find that the exams are much more similar than they had been historically.

What Is on the SAT?

The current SAT covers three required areas and the optional essay:

• Reading: Test-takers answer questions about passages they read. All questions are multiple choice and based on the passages. Some questions will also ask about tables, graphs, and charts, but no math is required to answer the questions. Total time for this section: 65 minutes.
• Writing and Language: Test-takers read passages and then are asked to identify and fix mistakes and weaknesses in the language. Total time for this section: 35 minutes.
• Mathematics: Test-takers answer questions related to the types of math you’re likely to encounter in college and your personal life. Topics include algebra, data analysis, working with complex equations, and some basics of trigonometry and geometry. Some questions allow the use of a calculator; some do not. Total time for this section: 80 minutes.
• Optional Essay: The optional essay exam asks you to read a passage and then make an argument based on that passage. You’ll need to support your argument with evidence from the passage. Total time for this section: 50 minutes.

Unlike the ACT, the SAT does not have a section focused on science.

How Much Time Does the Exam Take?

The SAT exam takes a total of 3 hours without the optional essay. There are 154 questions, so you’ll have 1 minute and 10 seconds per question (by comparison, the ACT has 215 questions and you’ll have 49 seconds per question). With the essay, the SAT takes 3 hours and 50 minutes.

How Is the SAT Scored?

Prior to March, 2016, the exam was scored out of 2400 points: 200-800 points for Critical Reading, 200-800 points for Mathematics, and 200-800 points for Writing. An average score had been roughly 500 points per subject area for a total of 1500.

With the redesign of the exam in 2016, the Writing section is now optional, and the exam is scored out of 1600 points (as it had been back before the Writing section had become a required component of the exam). You can earn 200 to 800 points for the Reading/Writing section of the exam, and 800 points for the Math section. A perfect score on the current exam is a 1600, and you’ll find that most successful applicants to the country’s most selective colleges and universities have scores in the 1400 to 1600 range.

When Is the SAT Offered?

The SAT is currently administered seven times a year: March, May, June, August, October, November, and December. If you’re wondering when to take the SAT, the August, October, May, and June dates are the most popular — many students take the exam once in the spring of junior year, and then again in August or October of senior year. For seniors, the October date is often the last exam that will be accepted for early decision and early action applications. Be sure to plan ahead and check SAT test dates and registration deadlines. 

Note that prior to the 2017-18 admissions cycle, the SAT was not offered in August, and there was a January test date. The change was a good one: August gives seniors an attractive option, and January wasn’t a popular date for juniors or seniors.

Do You Need to Take the SAT?

No. Nearly all colleges will accept the ACT instead of the SAT. Also, many colleges recognize that a high-pressure timed exam is not the best measure of an applicant’s potential. In truth, studies of the SAT have shown that the exam predicts a student’s family income far more accurately than it predicts his or her future college success. Over 850 colleges now have test-optional admissions, and the list keeps growing.

Just keep in mind that schools that don’t use the SAT or ACT for admissions purposes may still use the exams for awarding scholarships. Athletes should also check NCAA requirements for standardized test scores. 

How Much Does the SAT Really Matter?

For the test-optional colleges mentioned above, the exam should not play any role in the admissions decision if you choose not to submit scores. For other schools, you’re likely to find that many of the country’s most selective colleges downplay the importance of standardized tests. Such schools have holistic admissions and work to evaluate the whole applicant, not just numerical data. Essays, letters of recommendation, interviews, and most importantly, good grades in challenging courses are all pieces of the admissions equation.

That said, SAT and ACT scores get reported to the Department of Education, and they are frequently used as a measure for rankings such as those published by U.S. News & World Report. Higher average SAT and ACT scores equate with higher rankings for a school and more prestige. The reality is that high SAT scores greatly increase your chances of admission to highly selective colleges and universities. Can you get in with low SAT scores? Perhaps, but the odds are against you. The score ranges below for enrolled students illustrate the point:

Sample SAT Scores for Top Colleges  (mid 50%)

On the plus side, you clearly don’t need perfect 800s to get into painfully selective universities such as Harvard and Stanford. On the other hand, you are also unlikely to get in with scores significantly lower than those listed in the 25th percentile columns above.

A Final Word:

The SAT is constantly evolving, and the test you will take is quite different from the one your parents took, and the current exam has little in common with the pre 2016 exam. For good or bad, the SAT (and ACT) remains a significant piece of the college admissions equation for the majority of non-profit four-year colleges. If your dream school has selective admissions, you’d be well advised to take the test seriously. Spending some time with a study guide and practice tests can help make you familiar with the exam and more prepared come test day.

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Sat is a verb.

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TRANSLATION OF SAT

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The term «sat» is very widely used and occupies the 2.235 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.

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1. What does SAT stand for?

Scholastic Aptitude Test

A common acronym in the education realm that refers to the standardized tests taken as part of the application process to many United States colleges and universities.

Example

I have to take the SATs tomorrow and I’m pretty nervous.

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2. What does SAT stand for?

Sorry about that

SAT is a quick way to apologize to a person or empathize with their unfortunate circumstances. It may also be written as «SBT» to avoid confusion with the word «sat.»

People most often use SAT in text messages and online messages. However, you may also use it in emails, in gaming sessions, and on social media.

Examples of when you might use SAT include apologizing to a sibling for fighting with them or apologizing to a teammate when playing poorly in an online game. Instances when you may use it to convey sympathy, include hearing from your friend that they put their dog down or that your mom lost her ring.

Example

I meant to pay the rent on time, but I thought it was due on the 5th, not the 1st. SAT.

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