The SAT or Scholastic Aptitude Test is a standardized test that is administered to high school students applying to colleges. The SAT is developed, disseminated, and scored by the Educational Testing Service. The current SAT was introduced in 2005 and takes three hours and forty-five minutes to complete. It costs $49 for American students and $75 for international students.
The modern SAT is derived from earlier standardized tests used by colleges and universities in the northeastern United States. The psychologist Carl Brigham was responsible for developing the original SAT, which was designed to eliminate test bias among individuals from different socio-economic groups. The first administration of the SAT took place on June 23, 1926. In 1930, the SAT was split into the verbal and math sections, a distinction that would remain until 2004.
The old SAT was somewhat problematic as students had to struggle with questions concerning analogies and quantitative comparisons. The updated SAT, which debuted in 2005, did away with these two sections and replaced them with brief essays and higher math problems. As students vary in their aptitude levels, some students are advised to prepare for the SATs weeks, months, and even years in advance.
A number of excellent preparation programs exist that prepare students for the SAT such as books, group classes,
SAT prep online courses, and tutoring. While SAT scores are important, many Ivy League schools require applicants to excel in other areas such as overall grade point average or GPA, active participation in sports and other extracurricular activities, and leadership skills.
The updated SAT consists of three sections: Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing. Each section receives a score on a scale of 200-800, with all scores being multiples of 10. The total scores are calculated by adding up all the scores from all three sections. Each major section is further sub-divided into three parts. All these major areas are covered by
SAT prep online courses.
The Writing section covers grammar, language usage, and diction. The Mathematics section covers algebra, geometry, statistics, probability, and data analysis. Lastly, the Critical Reading section covers critical reading and sentence-level reading. The SAT is offered seven times a year in the months of October, November, December, January, March and April. The various sections are covered thoroughly in
SAT prep course online programs.
