ABSTRACT
We appear to have forgotten why tests were created in the first place. Although they were always considered to be useful in evaluating candidates, they were also considered to be more equitable than using prior grades because of the variation in quality among preparatory schools. The College Board has long felt that the SAT was limited in what it measured and should not be relied upon as the only tool to judge applicants (Angoff, 1971). The College Board gave advice in 1926 as it developed the first SAT that is as relevant today as it was then:
The present state of all efforts of men [sic] to measure or in any way estimate the worth of other men, or to evaluate the results of their nurture, or to reckon their potential possibilities does not warrant any certainty of prediction. This additional test now made available through the instrumentality of the College Entrance Examination Board may resolve a few perplexing problems, but it should be regarded merely as a supplementary record. To place too great emphasis on test scores is as dangerous as the failure properly to evaluate any score or rank in conjunction with other measures and estimates which it supplements. (Brigham, 1926, pp. 44-45)
In 1993, the verbal and mathematical reasoning sections of the SAT were lengthened and the multiple-choice Test of Standard Written English was dropped. The name was changed from Scholastic Aptitude Test to Scholastic Assessment Tests, while retaining the SAT initials. Currently it is just called the SAT I. In 2003, the College Board announced that an essay would be added and the analogies type item removed as of 2005. Despite various changes and versions over the years, the SAT in essence measures what it did in 1926, verbal and math ability; it is basically still a general intelligence test (Sedlacek, 2003, 2004).
