What does sat stand for

What Does SAT Stand For? The Full History

Currently, the SAT doesn’t stand for anything—it is just the name of the exam. However, that hasn’t always been the case. Since its introduction in 1926, the SAT has taken on more than one official name. Keep reading to learn more about the history of the SAT and why it’s no longer associated with those names.

The Complete History of What the SAT Stands For

1926: The Scholastic Aptitude Test

For the majority of its history, from the ‘20s up until the early ‘90s, the test was the “Scholastic Aptitude Test”. So why did they scrap that?

Besides sounding like a cold, robotic form of torture (which you may or may not think the test actually is), the original name of the SAT didn’t sit right with a lot of people. “Scholastic” means academic, and “aptitude” means innate skill; it implied that they were able to test you on how well you were bound to perform in school settings. Even if you think the SAT is a pretty good measure of IQ—and it’s not an IQ test—there’s a whole lot more that goes into academic performance than just that, including motivation, social skills, creativity, and more. Your “scholastic aptitude” is much more complex than what the SAT tests you on. So they changed it! Great.

1993: The Scholastic Assessment Tests

For years, nobody really understood the change that the College Board made. In 1993, the company started giving what we now know as the SAT Subject Tests (initially called the “SAT II: Subject Tests”). The original SAT was renamed the “SAT I: Reasoning Test”, and altogether they became the Scholastic Assessment Tests.

It made sense that they took out the “Aptitude” from the original name, since that’s what was causing the problem, but officially the original test was now called a “reasoning test,” which sounds more like an IQ test than it does a “scholastic assessment”. And the individual test wasn’t called the “Scholastic Assessment Test I”. That long form was only applied to the tests collectively. So what did SAT stand for, then?

Years later, the College Board finally cleared it up. SAT didn’t stand for anything at all.

1997 to Now: SAT is Just an Initialism

It’s pretty weird to think that an abbreviation could stand for nothing at all, but that’s what the College Board says about the SAT. The point of it is pretty simple: whatever words they used in the name (like “aptitude”), were automatically a possible target for critics to aim at. By taking away the words, they kept the brand recognition of the letters “SAT” but got rid of any other associations.

It’s pretty similar to how KFC took the words out of their logo to avoid having “fried” give them an unhealthy image. But that has to make you wonder: who do they think they fooled?
Personally, I think that’s not possible. It’s clearly an abbreviation when it’s all caps like that…. So maybe we should use lowercase and start calling it “the sat”, rather than spelling out the letters when we say it.

Really speaking, SAT is almost like a brand. The New Coke, the New Ford Mustang. The fact that it once actually stood for something has become a piece of trivia. You’re better off knowing what the test is testing than what it actually stands for. Now crack open the new Official Guide and learn something that is actually useful.

What does SAT Stand for?

The SAT was first introduced in 1926 and has since remained a major test for the College Admission Standard Test. But what does SAT mean? The answer is quite complicated. The name of the test has changed twice over the last 90 years. Join us for more information on the SAT history and reasoning for the name.

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Originally, SAT stood for the “Scholastic Aptitude Test” and was designed as an assessment that assesses a particular student’s college-specific skills. However, the word aptitude means the natural ability to do something, and the SAT is not necessarily a measure of aptitude because you had the chance to learn the subject, instead of having a natural ability to recognize it. Therefore, since the SAT was not necessarily an aptitude test, the College Board changed the test to the “Scholastic Assessment Test” in 1993, which was divided into two parts: the SAT 1: Reasoning Test and the SAT 2: Subject Tests. After the name change, the SAT was viewed to be more accurate by being labeled as an assessment because the SAT assessed how you grew intellectually during your high school years.

In 1997, the College Board faced another issue with the name for the SAT. They found that “assessment” was synonymous with the word “test,” which turned the Scholastic Assessment Test into a Scholastic Test Test. So, for this reason, the College Board renamed the test to SAT, and “SAT” no longer meant anything. “SAT” is now just SAT.

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What Does SAT Stand For?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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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What Does the SAT Stand For?

What Does the SAT Stand For?

Whether you’re preparing for it, just took it, took it a long time ago, or are hearing a lot about having to take it in a couple years, the SAT is this weird monolith in contemporary educational culture. But nobody seems to know what the SAT stands for. Even when you take the test, there’s no actual acronym on the handbook; they just call it the “SAT.” So what does the SAT stand for? What’s the story behind it, anyway?

Origins of the SAT

10 schools is a lot to apply to for some; lest you have the time and money for it.

Anyway, the purpose of the SAT was, in part, to reduce that testing clutter. Which is nice. It was also designed to be a kind of perfectly neutral exam. The SAT was created by psychology professor Carl Brigham to measure a college candidate’s potential. You know, opposed to one’s financial status or otherwise. Which, we know is not the case in practice today. But, you may argue, back then the SAT was different. Surely the early iterations of the SAT were more bias free, right?

Well the SAT was created in the 1920s. Given that it’s 2020 and we still haven’t fixed racism, that’s a pretty tall order. But let’s explore.

Carl Brigham

“For some college officials, an aptitude test, which is presumed to measure intelligence, is appealing since at this time intelligence and ethic origin are thought to be connected, and therefore the results of such a test could be used to limit the admissions of particularly undesirable ethnicities.”

Educators acknowledged that a test could be used to weed out undesirable ethnicities by asking questions geared towards specific ethnicities.

Brigham would call the early iterations of this test the Scholastic Aptitude Test. So we’ve found the origins of the name!

Administering the First Tests

The SAT in its early 1926-1930s iterations was heavily geared towards multiple choice. As such, it drew a lot of controversy for promoting guesswork and memorization–opposed to the intention of aptitude and potential. Plus, even in the 1930s, people were criticizing the test questions for being biased against nonwhite test takers.

But the SAT barreled on anyways, being used in college admissions for the first time in 1934–once Harvard administrators took interest in this new test. After Harvard adopted it, most post-secondary institutions would follow.

Contemporary SAT

Ever since its inception, the SAT has disproportionately failed test takers of color. Coinciding with earlier assessments ruling that the SAT could be used as a tool to phase out “undesirable ethnicities,” this wasn’t a great look. Especially in the contemporary socio-political landscape, where we’ve generally concluded eugenics is bad.

So it makes sense that the SAT would try to re-brand itself. The Collegeboard (a corporation most people hate) re-branded it as the Scholastic Assessment Test to pull away from the eugenicist roots. Since aptitude was rooted in eugenics and didn’t actually test subject mastery, the SAT basically inverted itself so it did reflect subject mastery.

Then the Collegeboard realized that didn’t work, and has since just dubbed the test the SAT.

So what does the SAT stand for? That’s right, SAT doesn’t actually stand for anything, because the Collegeboard realized that the SAT couldn’t test for aptitude or subject mastery. Today, it’s just three meaningless letters with roots in a guy who thought his test could discover a master race.

Here’s a quiz about going through the primary, secondary, and post-secondary schooling systems.

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The Complete Story: What Does SAT Stand For?

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 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»

For Fun: What was tested on the 1926 SAT?

The original SAT looked very different form the SAT we’re used to today. Verbal skills tested included definitions, antonyms, and analogies, while math questions included a number series and logical inference. Test-takers were given around 90 minutes to answer 315 questions.

Just for fun, try a few sample questions from the 1926 SAT :

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

As of 1997, SAT is no longer an acronym and the name does not stand for anything. Here’s an official comment from the College Board about this change:

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 w hat’s a good SAT score for you? Read this guide to find out.

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:

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As co-founder and head of product design at PrepScholar, Allen has guided thousands of students to success in SAT/ACT prep and college admissions. He’s committed to providing the highest quality resources to help you succeed. Allen graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude and earned two perfect scores on the SAT (1600 in 2004, and 2400 in 2014) and a perfect score on the ACT. You can also find Allen on his personal website, Shortform, or the Shortform blog.

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