Which instrument is a well-established predictor of college performance and originated to provide a common standard to which students could be compared?

• A. ACT
• B. GRE
• C. SAT
• D. CoGAT

Answer: (C)

A common yardstick for comparing students from different high schools was the goal behind the SAT when it was created. The SAT was developed by the College Board to provide a uniform measure that colleges could use to compare applicants from diverse educational backgrounds, giving admissions committees a standardized way to assess readiness. Over time it has been treated as a signal of college readiness and, to a meaningful extent, as a predictor of college performance such as first-year GPA, which is why it’s considered well established in this role. The other tests have different origins or purposes: the ACT provides another measure of readiness but emerged as an alternative to the SAT rather than the original standard; the GRE is aimed at predicting performance in graduate school rather than undergraduate college performance; the CoGAT is a cognitive ability test used in contexts like gifted programs, not as a national standard for college admissions.