Preparing students for college admissions tests

Abstract

Attaining successful outcomes on the SAT can have profound educational and financial consequences for college-bound students. Using archival data from a private tutoring centre, we investigated variables we hypothesised to contribute to SAT score increases. Our analyses revealed significant effects of time on task and rate of SAT homework completion. Starting preparation earlier in the junior year and distributing tutoring sessions over larger intervals contributed to higher SAT score improvements. Testing effects were significant: more frequent practice tests significantly increased SAT scores. Official SAT administrations contributed more to score increases than did unofficial practice tests. Individual tutoring hours yielded greater increases than did group tutoring hours. Student characteristics such as gender, SES, or private or public school attendance were not significant. Implications for improving test preparation for students as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• college admissions
• SAT
• high-stakes tests
• test preparation

Disclosure statement

The senior author of this paper, Jed I. Appelrouth, is the owner of the private tutoring centre providing archival data and adhered to all procedures and instructions provided to him by the Institutional Review Board of his university.

Notes on contributors

Jed I. Appelrouth is a graduate of the department of Educational Psychology at Georgia State University. His research interests include academic self-efficacy, test anxiety and high stakes testing.

Karen M. Zabrucky is a professor of Educational Psychology at Georgia State University. Her research interests include Applied Cognitive Psychology with particular interests in memory and metacognitive skills in the real world and discourse comprehension.

DeWayne Moore is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Clemson University. His research interests are quantitative methods, measurement and scale construction. Moore has over 100 refereed publications appearing in internationally recognized journals such as Journal of Occupational Health, Journal of Personality, Education and Psychological Measurement and The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society among others.