5 minSociety
SAT Marks 100 Years as Wealth Gap in Scores Persists
The SAT turns 100 in 2026, with about 86% of colleges now test-optional and research showing wealthy students are 13 times more likely than low-income students to score 1300 or higher.
The SAT, the standardized exam that has shaped American college admissions for generations, marks its 100th anniversary this year as debate continues over whether it accurately measures academic ability or mainly reflects family wealth. First administered in June 1926 to about 8,000 high school students hoping to attend elite universities, the test has undergone sweeping changes in format, subject matter and delivery over the past century.
One of the most consequential shifts came around 2000, when roughly 280 colleges and universities began allowing applicants to apply without submitting SAT or ACT scores. Today, approximately 86% of colleges and universities are test-optional, a figure that surged during the COVID-19 pandemic when students could not sit for exams in person. That period functioned as a natural experiment for institutions that had not already dropped the requirement.
The test was developed in the 1920s by the College Board, an organization founded in 1900 by the presidents of 12 leading universities to standardize admissions. Before the SAT, each university used its own essay-format entrance exam, written and graded by professors. The first uniform SAT in 1926 contained 315 questions with a 97-minute time limit, giving test-takers about 18 seconds per question, though they were not expected to answer every one.
The original exam had nine sections, including paragraph reading and arithmetic, along with sections such as artificial language that are no longer used. That section required writing coded sentences under complicated rules, such as forming plurals by adding -o. In 1928 and 1929, and again from 1936 to 1941, the SAT contained no math questions at all. From 1930 to 1935, math questions were all free response rather than multiple choice.
The SAT was revolutionary because it replaced subject-specific essay exams chosen by individual universities with multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions that could be scored quickly and objectively. Students no longer had to travel to a college campus to take an entrance exam, and a single score could be sent to multiple colleges. That created both more competition and broader access to higher education, though not all colleges or high school teachers embraced the test, partly out of concern that it would dictate high school curricula.
Use remained relatively rare in the late 1930s and early 1940s, with about 10,000 students sitting for the exam each year. In 1947, Educational Testing Service, a private nonprofit devoted to testing and educational research, was created to administer the SAT and develop other exams. The organization had an incentive to sell the test to institutions, leading to more widespread use.
After World War II, universities saw a sharp increase in applicants benefiting from the GI Bill, which offered educational and financial assistance to military veterans. Schools strengthened admissions criteria and relied more on the SAT to screen applicants. The University of California system became the first and largest public system to require the SAT in 1960, the same year the ACT was created. Over the following decades, more schools required the SAT, and test creators expanded the exam and revised questions to reduce reliance on private tutors. In 1994, students used physical calculators on the SAT for the first time.
Taking the SAT or ACT remains a high-stakes moment. A score increase of just 50 to 100 points can translate into thousands of dollars in scholarships. The achievement gap between racial groups has been documented and debated for decades. Asian students have the highest average score, followed by white students. Wealthier students are 13 times more likely than low-income students to score 1300 or higher out of a maximum 1,600 points.
Some research links family income to test scores and to college success measured by GPA, retention and graduation. Other research indicates that high school GPA is a better predictor of college success than SAT scores. As the test reaches its centennial, the question of what it measures and whom it serves remains unresolved.
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