College Admissions Tests: A Brief History

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (now officially just SAT) was based on the Army’s IQ test administered during World War I and was first administered experimentally as a college admissions test to a few thousand high schoolers in 1926. It was developed by Carl Brigham, who was later a psychology professor at Princeton University and a fervent advocate of the eugenics movement. 

Shortly afterward, it was used – somewhat ironically given how it has developed – as an effort by Harvard to expand its students beyond the elite Eastern boarding schools and to evaluate public-school student candidates for Harvard scholarships. At that time, it was believed that this was an objective measure of students’ intelligence.

In 1959, the first American College Test (ACT is its official name now) was administered. It was developed as a test for students interested in attending less selective colleges. Rather than the goal of measuring aptitude, it was supposed to measure high school-level competencies.

For decades, the SAT was more popular in the Northeast and West while the ACT dominated in the Midwest and South. The ACT was often considered inferior to the SAT. Harvard, for example, refused to consider ACT scores until the 1990s.

Now, they are used interchangeably. In 2023, 1.9 million students took the SAT at least once, and 1.4 million sat for the ACT. And it’s big business – the College Board, a nonprofit that also administers the Advanced Placement exams, reported revenues of $1.4 billion in 2022.  ACT Inc., showed a revenue of $244 million in 2022. ACT, which was purchased by a capital management company this year, will become a for-profit.