Coaching for the Scholastic Aptitude Test: Further Synthesis and Appraisal

Abstract

Analyses of results of studies documented in 23 reports on coaching for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) indicated that, on average, coaching can help increase SAT scores. However, considerable variability in results for 48 studies reflected the fact that not all coaching is necessarily effective and that all studies of coaching do not provide similar views of coaching’s effectiveness. Results of published and unpublished studies were analyzed separately. Characteristics related to the magnitudes of coaching effects included date of publication of the study, whether the study was sponsored by the Educational Testing Service and used as a comparison group, whether instruction included test practice and attention to test-taking skills, and whether homework was assigned to students. Coaching effects were stronger for the SAT Mathematical subtest. Published comparison studies gave consistent results with coached groups exceeding controls by 0.09 standard deviations on SAT-V and 0.16 on SAT-M. Studies of coaching were found to be rather poorly reported and designed without much attention to the issues discussed in reviews of the coaching literature.