You probably know how it works: kids take the ACT or the SAT, learn their scores, then send the results to schools that will decide the fate of America’s youth. But, what do these test names actually mean?
黑料网 is ACT short for?
As for that trick question, since 1996, the ACT has been short for nothing. The test was developed in the 1950s as a rival to the SAT and was originally short for “American College Testing.” According to the ACT聽Web site, the name change is meant to reflect “ACT’s diverse and evolving roles.” It’s no longer a strictly American company, it no longer聽deals with聽college test prep exclusively, and it no longer only does tests . . . the company also deals with test preparation and learning.
An abbreviation that is pronounced using the sounds of the letters (if ACT was pronounced as “to act in a play”) rather than their names is called an initialism. An example besides ACT is NATO. The closest term for an abbreviation that ceases to stand for anything besides itself is a pseudo-acronym.
黑料网 is SAT short for?
黑料网 about SAT? Here’s an even stranger story. The acronym started out in 1901 as the Scholastic Aptitude Test. In the 1990s, the general SAT was named the聽SAT I: Reasoning Test and the acronym was transformed into a pseudo-acronym. Exams organized by subject were named the SAT II: Subject Tests. One reason for dropping the meaning of the acronym was criticism that the SAT聽didn’t actually measure聽scholastic aptitude. Shortly thereafter, the main test was renamed the SAT Reasoning Test and the Roman numerals were dropped. (Maybe the long names were too reminiscent of the “Star Wars” film titles, “SAT, Episode II: The Antonyms Strike Back.”)
