Document Deep Dive: What Was on the First SAT?
Explore the exam that has been stressing out college-bound high school students since 1926
- By Megan Gambino
- Smithsonian.com, April 12, 2013, Subscribe
(Press Association via AP Images)
Taking the SAT is a rite of passage and has been ever since the first exam was offered in 1926 as a way to eliminate the prep school bias of the college admissions process.
The very first SAT, excerpted below, looks quite different from today’s three-hour-45-minute version. Students who took the original SAT on June 23, 1926, tackled nine sub-tests totaling 315 questions in just 97 minutes.
I recently spoke with Brian O’Reilly, a 31-year veteran of the College Board, about the 1926 exam. How well would you fare? Quiz yourself, and as you do, click on the yellow tabs, within the document, to learn more about the various types of questions.
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Comments (4)
You can make it out marginally by moving the horizontal "Zoom" slider bar at the top-right all the way to the right.
Posted by Curry B Taylor on April 30,2013 | 07:15 PM
Was this SAT test also uploaded using the world's first scanner? The poor quality of the document makes this a frustrating endeavor. Basically, it is not doable and thus a giant tease.
Posted by Tom on April 30,2013 | 10:21 AM
My computer did not display any of the questions from the 1926 test, just lengthy descriptions of each section. How can I view it?
Posted by Ruth Detjen on April 21,2013 | 12:17 PM
Awwwww..lol
Posted by Giovanni Olak on April 17,2013 | 05:06 PM