The SAT is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still administers the exam. The test is intended to assess a student's readiness for college. It was first introduced in 1926, and its name and scoring have changed several times. It was first called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, then the Scholastic Assessment Test, but now SAT does not stand for anything, hence it is an empty acronym.
The current SAT Reasoning Test, introduced in 2005, takes three hours and forty-five minutes to finish, and costs $50 ($81 International), excluding late fees. Possible scores range from 600 to 2400, combining test results from three 800-point sections (Mathematics, Critical Reading, and Writing).
Taking the SAT or its competitor, the ACT, is required for freshman entry to many, but not all, universities in the United States.
Read more about SAT: Function, Structure, Taking The Test, Raw Scores, Scaled Scores, and Percentiles, SAT-ACT Score Comparisons, Correlations With IQ, History, Name Changes and Recentered Scores, Scoring Problems of October 2005 Tests, The Math-verbal Achievement Gap
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