"
Skip to Content
Version 1.3 – Updated November 2024

Teaching test taking and coaching

Overview

  • Influence: Teaching test taking and coaching
  • Domain: Student Learning Strategies
  • Sub-Domain: Learning strategies
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Likely to have positive impact
  • Influence Definition: Teaching test-taking strategy courses (e.g., strategies for guessing, process of elimination, keeping to time, and reducing anxiety) and theoretical instruction (explanations of deductive reasoning protocols.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 13
  • Number of studies: 540
  • Number of students: 146,727
  • Number of effects: 744
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.32
  • Robustness index: 4

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author First Author's Country Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Psychological Bulletin Messick & Jungeblut USA Time and method in coaching for the SAT 1981 Coaching for SAT 12 0 12 0.15
Review of Educational Research Bangert-Drowns, Kulik & Kulik USA Effects of coaching programs on achievement test performance 1983 Training in test taking skills 30 0 30 0.25
Harvard Educational Review DerSimonian & Laird USA Evaluating the effect of coaching on SAT scores: A meta-analysis 1983 Coaching on the SAT-M/V 36 15,772 36 0.07
Journal of Educational Research Samson USA Effects of Training in Test-Taking Skills on Achievement Test Performance: A Quantitative Synthesis 1985 Training in test taking skills 24 0 24 0.33
Elementary School Journal Scruggs, White, & Bennion USA Teaching test-taking skills to elementary-grade students: A meta-analysis 1986 Training in test taking skills 24 0 65 0.21
Conference paper Kalaian & Becker USA Effects of coaching on Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) performance: a multivariate meta-analysis approach 1986 Coaching for SAT 34 0 34 0.34
Report Powers USA Relationships of test item characteristics to test preparation/test practice effects: a quantitative summary 1986 Coaching for college admission 10 0 44 0.21
Review of Educational Research Becker USA Coaching for the Scholastic Aptitude Test: Further Synthesis and Appraisal 1990 Coaching for SAT 48 0 70 0.30
Conference paper Witt USA Meta-analysis and the effects of coaching for aptitude tests 1993 Training in test taking skills 35 0 35 0.22
Psychological Bulletin Kulik, Bangert-Drowns, & Kulik USA Effectiveness of coaching for aptitude tests 1984 Coaching for SAT 14 0 14 0.15
Journal of Technology Education Haynie USA Effects of test taking on retention learning in technology education: a meta-analysis 2007 Test taking on retention learning 8 0 8 0.76
Educational Research Review Fong, Krou, Johnston-Ashton, Hoff, Lin, & Gonzales USA LASSI's great adventure: A meta-analysis of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory and academic outcomes 2021 Test taking 212 71,859 267 0.43
Applied Measurement in Education Rios USA Improving test-taking effort in low-stakes group-based educational testing: A meta-analysis of interventions. 2021 Teaching test taking effort 53 59,096 105 0.20
TOTAL/AVERAGE 540 146,727 744 0.28
Back to top