The effects of self-preparation on SAT-M performance as compared to both organized short-term commercial coaching and no treatment

This study examined the effects of guided self-preparation strategies on SAT-Math test outcomes and compared the effects to those achieved by both commercial coaching programs and no intervention. Treatment effects on SAT-Math free response items, or “grid-ins,” were also appraised. Sixty-eight subjects in three groups at an urban high school participated in the study.; All subjects took the PSAT in the fall of their junior year. The PSAT-Math score, multiplied by ten, served as the pretest. Treatment interventions lasting six weeks occurred in the spring of the junior year. Eighteen subjects in the self-preparation group followed a general set of guidelines for preparing for the SAT-Math. Twenty-three subjects in a second group took a commercial coaching program to prepare for the SAT-Math. A third group, consisting of twenty-seven subjects, did not prepare for the SAT-Math.; All subjects took the SAT in June of the junior year. Their SAT-Math score was used as the posttest. Gain scores were computed and differences among the three groups were analyzed using ANOVA and t-tests.; The results showed that subjects engaged in a program of structured self-preparation, and subjects who took a commercial coaching course, gained significantly more than subjects in the non-treatment group. However, no differences in gains were found between the self-preparation group and the commercial preparation group. This latter finding runs counter to the assumption that commercial coaching programs offer the superior approach to score improvement vis-à-vis the SAT-Math.; Coaching effects on SAT-Math free-response items did not significantly differ from those observed on the SAT-Math as a whole.