For students entering undergraduate and graduate schools, standardized entrance examinations are typical requirements. For the schools’ admissions officers, the scores on these tests provide a basis on which to judge students from varying educational back-grounds with a common yardstick. Different admissions tests are designed to satisfy different academic criteria, so it is important that prospective students familiarize themselves with the examination requirements of their chosen schools. Twelve of the standard admissions tests administered in the United States are discussed here.
Pronunciation note: These tests are best known by their abbreviated names, which are not pronounced as words, but as initials, letter by letter. For example, the ACT is not pronounced like the word “act”; rather, each letter is spoken: “A-C-T.”
ACT (or ACT Assessment) (American College Testing)
• Administered by ACT (a nonprofit organization that, until 1996, went by the name American College Testing Program), for college-bound
students (typically high school juniors and seniors).
• Measures proficiency in English, mathematics, reading, and science.
• Many schools that require the taking of SAT II tests will accept the ACT in lieu of the SAT IIs.
AP (Advanced Placement)
• Sponsored by the College Examination Board and administered in high schools, for college-bound students.
• AP exams are available for more than 30 subjects.
• A passing score on an AP exam in any given subject typically earns either college credit or advanced placement in that subject.
DAT (Dental Admissions Test)
• Administered by the American Dental Association (ADA), as required for admittance into dental school.
• Measures academic aptitude, scientific comprehension, and perceptual ability.
GMAT (Graduate Management Admissions Test)
• Administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), for prospective business-school graduate students.
• Measures verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills.
GRE (Graduate Record Examination)
• Administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), for prospective graduate students.
• Measures verbal, quantitative, and analytical reasoning skills.
• Many graduate schools base the student’s eligibility for merit-based grants, fellowships, and assistantships partly or largely
on GRE scores.
LSAT (Law School Admissions Test)
• Administered by Law School Admission Services (LSAS), as required for admittance into law school.
• Measures critical reading, logical reasoning, analytical reasoning, and strategic thinking skills.
MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test)
• Administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), as required for admittance into medical school.
• Measures proficiency in the basic sciences, general problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication.
• The MCAT is often considered the most intensive of the admissions examinations.
OAT (Optometry Admission Test)
• Administered by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO), as required for admittance into optometry school.
• Measures proficiency in physics, chemistry, biology, reading comprehension, and quantitative reasoning.
PCAT (Pharmacy College Admissions Test)
• Administered by the Psychological Corporation, for prospective pharmacy-school graduate students.
• Measures scientific, mathematical, and verbal skills.
PSAT (Preliminiary Scholastic Assessment Test)
• Administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), for college-bound students (typically high school sophomores and juniors).
• Shorter than (but very similar in content to) the SAT, the PSAT is often taken as practice, in preparation for the SAT.
• PSAT scores are commonly considered by scholarship committees.
SAT (or SAT I) (Scholastic Assessment Test)
• Administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), for college-bound students (typically high school juniors and seniors).
• Measures proficiency in mathematics, vocabulary and reading.
• The SAT is the most widely distributed college admissions test in the United States.
SAT II (Scholastic Assessment Test II)
• Administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), for college-bound students (typically high school juniors and seniors).
• SAT II exams are available for more than 20 subjects.
• Unlike the SAT I, which measures general math and verbal skills, each SAT II exam measures the student’s knowledge of a specific
discipline.
Kaplan. “Test Prep Info Center,” www.kaptest.com/
Paul, William Henry. Getting In: Inside the College Admissions Process. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 1997.
TurboGrad. “SAT Prep & More,” www.turbograd.com/default.asp
