The intervention in this study focused upon effective test taking, defined as the capacity to use acquired subject matter knowledge to achieve test scores consistent with an individual's knowledge level. This approach also emphasized self-assessment and self-directed learning. The procedure was employed in efforts to enhance a class of medical…

This paper focuses on Smith's (1982) concept of test-wiseness strategies, describing several approaches that may maximize guessing on multiple-choice exams. Several previous studies indicated that the average level of performance increased when guessing was encouraged and decreased with instructions advising against guessing. Several studies were…

The objective of the present research was to investigate the effects of test-wiseness training on achievement. The study involved 208 Black, White and Hispanic students in grades three and five. An experimental training session was employed to test whether four aspects of test-wiseness (following directions, guessing, answer changing, and use of…

The effects of a test coaching program, "Scoring High on the California Achievement Test," were investigated with a sample of 876 students in grades 1, 2, 4, and 5. Multivariate analyses of variance were used to determine the effects of the program, grade level, sex, and race. Significant differences in favor of the Scoring High program…

The effect of cooperative test-taking (CT) on the achievement and attitudes of college seniors was investigated. The students (n=46) were randomly assigned to one of two sections of a course in measurement. They worked on projects in randomly assigned groups of four or five students. One section took frequent cooperative quizzes, while the other…

Analyzes the results of previous studies that examined the effects of teaching test-taking skills to elementary school children. Concludes that training in test-taking skills is differentially effective for various subgroups of children, longer training programs are more effective, and training is more effective in the upper elementary grades than…

The beneficial effects of changing an answer on a multiple choice test were examined for elementary school students, with particular emphasis on the answer-changing behavior of minority versus non-minority groups and high-income versus low-income students. Test booklets from students in grade 2 and answer sheets from students in grades 4, 6, and 8…

The study examined associated treatment effects on State Board Examination (SBE) scores of two predominantly black nursing classes who had been exposed to different intervention methods: (1) the teaching of effective test-taking skills, and (2) a combination of that instruction with learning team methods. The SBE performance of the two groups who…

This paper examined test scores and information about test takers collected from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) national test administration files, GRE validity study data provided by institutional users, and survey questionnaires sent to test repeaters. Data were collected from 200,000 men and women who took the GRE General Test in June…