The term SAT was coined to mean Scholastic Aptitude Test or Scholastic Assessment Test, which is a test that has to be taken for admission into any undergraduate degree Program in America. SAT is an aptitude test administered by The College Board in order to have a standardized format that measures the skill sets required for entering a college.

The College Board is a non-profit membership association founded in the year 1900, which aims to bring the colleges and students to a common platform by conducting the SAT tests. Colleges use the score of the tests as one of the parameters for deciding the admission of students desirous of joining their institution.

SAT Reasoning Test or SAT and SAT Subject tests are exams conducted by The College Board, a non-profit organization and is developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).

Colleges use the score of the SAT tests as one of the parameters for deciding the admission of students desirous of joining their institution.

Apart from taking up SAT, students will have to apply to the colleges of their choice and fulfil other application procedures as required by the colleges. The other areas that are considered for admission include the academic performance of the student, school records, application essay, other activities that he/she has taken part in, and recommendations.

Initially SAT stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test and the subject tests were called as Achievement tests. In 1993 these names were changed to SAT I : Reasoning Tests and Sat II : Subject Tests respectively. The name underwent a change again in 2004 and came to be known as SAT reasoning Tests and SAT Subject Tests.

The SAT redesigns its test periodically to ensure that it remains relevant. The next change - the redesigned SAT - will be rolled out from Spring 2016.