Why Do We Take SATs?
May 2024
The time of year has come and gone where students take the PSAT and SAT. We all know it’s necessary to graduate and important to colleges, but why do we take it and where did it come from? I’m here to figure that out for you.
In 1900, the College Board (the organization that administers the SAT) was formed. Leaders of the organization began giving admission tests to standardize the admission and application process and force New England boarding schools to adopt a uniform curriculum. In 1901, the first exams were sent out and tested in specific subject areas. Questions such as translating a paragraph into Latin and finding the weight of a cylindrical bar were common questions on these tests.
In 1905, a French psychologist by the name of Alfred Binet created the first IQ test to be able to determine mental ages and people that may learn slower than others. This inspired the experimentation of army IQ tests during WWI. The creator, a Harvard professor named Robert Yerkes, convinced the army to let him give the test to 2 million recruits and gather statistical evidence. His test was not to help the educational system, but rather to figure out the smartest people in society. During 1923, Carl Brigham, one of Yerks’ peers, published a book with the results of the experiment and connected it to education in the U.S. He concluded that American education is declining "and will proceed with an accelerating rate as the racial mixture becomes more and more extensive." After these findings, Brigham administered his own version of the army IQ test to freshman attending Princeton and applicants applying to Cooper Union, a technical college in New York.
After seeing how successful these experiments were, the College Board put Brigham in charge of a committee attempting to create a test that could be used by more students in different schools. In 1926, the first SAT was given to the first group of high schoolers to test their readiness for college. In 1933, the president of Harvard and some of his assistants tried to figure out a way to select which students to give scholarships to. They found out about the SAT from Princeton and adopted it, eventually requiring all applicants to take the SAT. Throughout the next 30 years, changes were made to the test and more schools adopted the standardized test. The SAT inspired the other very popular tests, the ACT and PSAT. By 1960, the entirety of the United States required these 3 tests.
In conclusion, SATs are important to tell colleges and universities whether or not a graduate is ready for college. Although it started as an army IQ test, the SAT and PSAT have evolved into important tools for high schools and colleges. An idea and experiment to test the IQ of people in America turned into a country-wide standardized test and necessary tool for high school.
Note from the Writer: Thank you for reading my articles this year! I plan to write many more in my next 3 years at Northfield and I hope you stick around to read them too! Have a great summer Nighthawks!
Northfield High School’s student-led newspaper. Covering news in and out of the nest.
Find us on Instagram @thenighthawktimes or reach out to us via email.
Photo credits: Pixabay
© 2024 The Nighthawk Times
