ACT/SAT
The SAT Turns 100: Looking Back and Ahead
This month, the SAT turned 100.
On June 23, 1926, roughly 8,000 students across the United States sat for the first version of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. That original exam looked very different from the SAT students know today: it included 315 questions to be answered in just 97 minutes, and students were not expected to finish every question. A century later, the SAT is digital, adaptive, shorter, and taken by millions of students each year.
For families navigating college admissions, the SAT’s 100th anniversary is more than a historical milestone. It is a useful moment to ask: what has changed, what has stayed the same, and how should students prepare for the next era of testing?
The SAT has changed dramatically
The SAT began in a very different educational world. In its earliest form, it was modeled in part on intelligence testing and was designed to help colleges evaluate applicants in a standardized way. Over time, the test changed in both content and purpose. Antonym questions were removed, math questions evolved, calculators were introduced, and the test increasingly moved away from rote memorization toward reasoning and problem-solving.
The most dramatic recent change came with the move to the Digital SAT. In 2024, the SAT became fully digital for U.S. students, following an earlier international rollout. The new version is shorter, taken on a laptop or tablet through the Bluebook app, and uses an adaptive format. Students answer a first module in Reading and Writing and Math; their performance helps determine the difficulty level of the second module.
The Digital SAT also changed the student experience. Instead of long reading passages with multiple questions, students now see shorter passages with one question each. In Math, students have access to a built-in graphing calculator throughout the section.
For many students, the new format feels less physically exhausting than the old paper test. But shorter does not mean easier.
Read our full article on the SAT.
Another sign of change is the rise of the Classic Learning Test, or CLT, which has entered the admissions conversation as an alternative to the SAT and ACT. The CLT is an online college entrance exam for 11th and 12th graders that emphasizes verbal reasoning, grammar and writing, and quantitative reasoning, with reading passages often drawn from classic literature and historical texts. It is now accepted by hundreds of colleges, according to CLT, and has gained particular traction among classical, religious, homeschool, and some public-university communities.
Its rise does not mean the SAT and ACT are disappearing. But it does suggest that families are entering a more fragmented testing era, one in which students may have more than one possible route to demonstrate academic readiness. For some students, especially those with a strong reading background or a classical curriculum, the CLT may be worth understanding alongside the SAT and ACT.
The Digital SAT rewards flexible thinking
The modern SAT is testing more than memorized formulas or vocabulary lists. It asks students to move quickly between skills: reading closely, interpreting data, understanding grammar, setting up equations, recognizing patterns, and using tools strategically.
That is especially true because of the adaptive structure. Students who perform well on the first module are likely to see a harder second module. For strong scorers, the test can feel demanding precisely because it is designed to push them into more challenging material.
The built-in Desmos calculator is one of the most important tools on the Digital SAT, but it is not a substitute for understanding. Desmos can graph functions, solve equations, evaluate expressions, and help students check answer choices. But it cannot decide what a word problem is asking, identify the right relationship, or translate a scenario into an equation.
A setup problem is still a setup problem.
Students who know how to use Desmos well have an advantage. Students who understand the math behind the question have an even bigger one.
Testing is becoming important again
The SAT’s anniversary also comes at a time when colleges are rethinking standardized testing.
After the pandemic, many schools adopted test-optional policies. For several years, students heard that testing might matter less than it once did. But the testing landscape is shifting again. A growing number of selective colleges have reinstated testing requirements or signaled that scores remain useful in evaluating applicants.
That does not mean every student should approach the SAT with panic. It does mean families should avoid assuming that scores are irrelevant.
A strong SAT or ACT score can still help in meaningful ways: it can strengthen an application, qualify a student for merit scholarships at certain colleges, provide useful academic context, help a student stand out in a competitive applicant pool, and keep more options open at schools where the student might otherwise be on the margin.
This is particularly important as college costs rise and families think more carefully about affordability. For many students, the goal is not only admission. It is admission with options.
What has stayed the same
Despite a century of changes, the SAT still rewards preparation.
Students do not need to be naturally perfect test-takers to improve. They need a plan. The strongest preparation usually includes content review, strategy, timing, practice tests, and careful analysis of mistakes.
That last piece matters most.
Students often think test prep means doing more and more questions. Practice is important, but improvement comes from understanding why an answer was wrong, what skill was being tested, and how to recognize a similar question next time.
The SAT has changed format many times over the past 100 years. But the students who do well still tend to be the ones who learn how to think with precision under pressure.
Looking ahead
As the SAT enters its second century, students should expect the test to keep evolving. Digital testing is likely here to stay. Adaptive formats may become more familiar. Calculator strategy will remain important. Reading and Writing questions will continue to reward clarity, logic, and attention to detail.
For students preparing now, the takeaway is straightforward: do not prepare for the SAT as if it is the same test your parents took. Prepare for the test that exists now.
That means getting comfortable with the digital format and practicing in Bluebook-style conditions, learning how the adaptive module structure works, and building real fluency with Desmos — not just familiarity with it. It also means strengthening core math concepts so that no tool becomes a crutch, reading carefully and critically, reviewing mistakes rather than rushing through more practice, and beginning early enough to retest if the first result calls for it.
The bottom line
The SAT has survived for 100 years because college admissions keeps returning to the same challenge: how to compare students from thousands of different schools, backgrounds, and academic systems.
The test is not perfect. It has changed repeatedly, and debates over fairness, access, and admissions will continue. But for many students, the SAT remains one of the few parts of the application they can still actively improve.
That is the encouraging part.
Students cannot rewrite their entire transcript overnight. They cannot control every part of the admissions process. But with thoughtful preparation, they can build skills, gain confidence, and walk into test day with a clearer strategy.
One hundred years after the first SAT, the test is still changing. The best preparation changes with it.
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