Third graders (N=32) were administered items from reading achievement tests and interviewed concerning strategies they employed and level of confidence in each answer. Results indicated that LD students were less likely to report use of appropriate strategies on inferential questions and to attend carefully to specific format demands; LD students…

Research on test taking skills of LD (learning disabled) students is reviewed and implications for improving the skill are noted. Among findings considered are that separate answer sheets appear to inhibit the performance of LD students, LD students can benefit from training and demonstrate improved attitudes toward testing, and students should…

Several experiments were carried out to determine whether learning disabled (LD) and behaviorally disordered (BD) students exhibit deficiencies in appropriate test-taking strategies and, if so, whether these strategies could be successfully trained. Preliminary investigations indicated that mildly handicapped students do exhibit deficiencies in…

The present investigation was intended to provide information on the type of strategies employed by learning disabled (LD) students on standardized, group-administered achievement test items. Of particular interest was level of strategy effectiveness and possible differences in strategy use between LD and non-disabled students. Students attending…

Two experiments compared the ability of learning disabled (LD) students and more typical age peers to answer such reading comprehension questions presented independently of reading passages. Results suggested a relative deficiency on the part of LD students with respect to reasoning strategies and test-taking skills. (Author/LMO)

Reports an investigation of 31 elementary school students' strategies in answering reading questions from the Stanford Achievement Tests. Results demonstrated that students do employ specific strategies and suggested that test results can be improved by teaching students to attend to all distractors, refer to the reading passage, answer all…

Applied research suggests that learning-disabled students can benefit from training in test-taking skills to improve their performance on both standardized tests and content area tests. Recommendations for classroom applications enumerate which skills are most important for objective, short answer, and essay question tests and suggest appropriate…

Several experiments were carried out to determine: (1) whether learning disabled (LD) and behaviorally disordered (BD) students exhibit deficiencies with respect to appropriate test-taking strategies and (2) if so, whether these strategies could be successfully trained. In the test-training evaluation, 92 LD or BD elementary-age students…

Learning disabled and behaviorally disordered third and fourth grade students were taught test taking skills such as attending to appropriate stimuli, marking answers carefully, using time well, and avoiding errors. These students scored significantly higher than their untrained peers on the Word Study Skills subtest of the Stanford Achievement…

Seventeen behaviorally disordered adolescents received training in specific test-taking skills relevant to content area and teacher-made tests. The experimental subjects scored significantly and substantially higher on a posttest of test-taking skills than did untrained matched controls. Deficits on test-taking skills may contribute to observed…

The package presents a training approach for increasing test-taking skills of learning disabled (LD) and behaviorally disordered (BD) children along with a research study illustrating the approach's effectiveness with 92 LD or BD elementary students. The approach focuses on such strategies as attending to appropriate stimuli, marking answers…

This book is designed to help students become better test takers. It is intended for teachers, but would be helpful to parents who think that their children's test scores do not completely represent their knowledge or abilities. Test taking skills are those skills that, when used effectively, contribute to a "test-wise" individual who can use…

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…

This final report describes the activities, results, and conclusions of a 3-year project whose major purpose was to improve test-taking skills of learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students, with respect to standardized achievement tests. The project concluded that: learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students exhibit deficits…

The ability to correctly answer reading comprehension test items, without having read the accompanying reading passage, was compared for third grade learning disabled students and their peers from a regular classroom. In the first experiment, fourteen multiple choice items were selected from the Stanford Achievement Test. No reading passages were…