100 Years Ago, Students Across the U.S. Took the First SAT. Today, Relatively Few Colleges Require the Test. Where Is It Headed?

Mc Kenzie Prillaman | Assistant Digital Editor, Science & Innovation

Add as preferred source Around two million graduating high school students in the United States—more than half—take the SAT each year. Paul Vernon/Associated Press On June 23, 1926, more than 8,000 high school students sat down to take the first version of what was then called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or the SAT. The teens spent roughly an hour and a half attempting to answer 315 questions about word definitions, analogies, math and more in the hopes that their score would help them gain admission to top colleges. In just a few years, Harvard even began to use the test to find talented students beyond those at prestigious boarding schools on the East Coast.

Now, a century later, around two million graduating high school students in the United States—more than half—take the SAT each year. The test has morphed several times over its history, as researchers, educators and the public have pushed for it to assess skills learned in school rather than inherent intelligence or rote memorization.