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Visible Learning™
Visible Learning MetaX™
Version 1.4 – Updated February 2026

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: 12
  • Number of studies: 532
  • Number of students: 146,727
  • Number of effects: 736
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.31
  • Robustness index: 4

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Psychological Bulletin Messick & Jungeblut Time and method in coaching for the SAT 1981 Coaching for SAT 12 NA 12 0.15
Review of Educational Research Bangert-Drowns, Kulik & Kulik Effects of coaching programs on achievement test performance 1983 Training in test taking skills 30 NA 30 0.25
Harvard Educational Review DerSimonian & Laird 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 Effects of Training in Test-Taking Skills on Achievement Test Performance: A Quantitative Synthesis 1985 Training in test taking skills 24 NA 24 0.33
Elementary School Journal Scruggs, White, & Bennion Teaching test-taking skills to elementary-grade students: A meta-analysis 1986 Training in test taking skills 24 NA 65 0.21
Conference paper Kalaian & Becker Effects of coaching on Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) performance: a multivariate meta-analysis approach 1986 Coaching for SAT 34 NA 34 0.34
Report Powers Relationships of test item characteristics to test preparation/test practice effects: a quantitative summary 1986 Coaching for college admission 10 NA 44 0.21
Review of Educational Research Becker Coaching for the Scholastic Aptitude Test: Further Synthesis and Appraisal 1990 Coaching for SAT 48 NA 70 0.30
Conference paper Witt Meta-analysis and the effects of coaching for aptitude tests 1993 Training in test taking skills 35 NA 35 0.22
Psychological Bulletin Kulik, Bangert-Drowns, & Kulik Effectiveness of coaching for aptitude tests 1984 Coaching for SAT 14 NA 14 0.15
Educational Research Review Fong, Krou, Johnston-Ashton, Hoff, Lin, & Gonzales 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 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 532 146,727 736 0.24
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