History of the SAT & ACT

The SAT, once known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, was originally developed in the early 1900's by Carl Brigham. It was developed for use in several north-eastern states to allow students from any socioeconomic background a chance to get into a college (before the test students were only allowed into colleges based on their parents status in college!) The SAT became more formal in the middle of the century as it was picked up for use by more and more colleges as a way to determine a students intelligence. Its name and structure would change a bit over time to bring us the SAT we know and love today.

The ACT, on the other hand, didn't surface until the late 1950's. The American College Testing program introduced it's testing assessment to enable students to decide on which colleges they should attend while providing colleges with information on how to properly teach the student. The ACT would prove to be a favorite of Midwestern and southern states, with those on the coasts generally prefer the SAT. Much as changed for each test over the years as the battle waged on, and now both tests have become accepted nationwide at most four-year colleges with no predominant bias.