When cognitive and educational tests are administered under time limits, tests may become speeded and this may affect the reliability and validity of the resulting test scores. Prior research has shown that time limits may create or enlarge gender gaps in cognitive and academic testing. On average, women complete fewer items than men when a test…

Students exhibit a variety of test-related behaviors before and during the American College Testing (ACT®) test. Previous ACT research has identified associations between test-related behavior and ACT test performance. For example, test preparation has been shown to be associated with modest ACT Composite score gains on the second ACT testing…

Students must choose when to take the ACT for the first time and if and when to retest. States and districts that administer the ACT test to all students must also choose when to administer the test. A key consideration in making these decisions is the impact on scores. Because the ACT is a curriculum-based test of academic achievement, students…

There is a lack of standardized instruction among the different General Educational Development (GED) preparatory programs in the country as a result of different state requirements for taking the GED exams. As such, the purpose of this quantitative non-experimental correlational study is to examine if scores of students on GED Ready Opt and the…

Considerable evidence indicates that self-efficacy, task value, anxiety, and the use of language learning strategies are related. However, there is currently an insufficient understanding about their relations in high-stakes testing contexts. The author aimed to investigate how well social factors, test value, anxiety, test performance, and…

This study assessed the test-taking skills of 776 high school students, 35 of whom were diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD). Students completed a computerized battery of timed reading tests as well as scales that assess test anxiety and test-taking perceptions. Students with LD obtained lower scores than the nondisabled group on all of the…

In this report, the authors examine the impact of scoring a 1 or 2 on an AP® Exam in 10th grade on later AP Exam participation and performance. As access to AP courses increases within and across schools, a growing number of students are taking AP courses and exams in the earlier grades of high school. Using a matched sample of AP and no-AP…

Test anxiety is one of the most debilitating and disruptive factors associated with underachievement and failure in schools (Birenbaum, Menucha, Nasser, & Fadia, 1994; Tobias, 1985). Researchers have suggested that interventions that combine multiple test-anxiety reduction techniques are most effective at reducing test anxiety levels (Ergene,…

The document is from a presentation at the Texas Region VII 2014 Curriculum Conference. The study examined the effects of a three-tiered high school program designed to increase student achievement and Texas end-of-course (EOC) TAKS and STAAR chemistry scores. The student sample (n = 625) consisted 75% high school sophomores and 25% high school…

High school students trained in test-taking skills performed markedly higher on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test than did controls. On two subtests, vocabulary and comprehension, controls scored significantly lower than the experimental group. A relationship was noted between parental help with test-taking preparation and level of test performance.…

Questions about the effectiveness of efforts to increase scores on minimum-competency tests and the appropriateness of their use were answered by teachers, education students, and administrators in Ohio, Georgia, and Texas. The first questionnaire was completed by 59 current teachers and 152 education students, who were asked if 30 listed…

Reviews several currently available test preparation options and discusses some recent studies on the effects of these methods of preparing for the Scholastic Aptitude Test. While special test preparation may not dramatically affect scores, some methods can improve students' confidence and familiarity with procedures. (JAC)

Examined item-level and test-level characteristics for items in a high-stakes school-leaving mathematics examination. Results from 158 students show that the influence of testwiseness is lessened when three-option items are used. Tests of three-option items are at least equivalent to four-option item tests in terms of internal-consistency score…

Whether preparation classes for the American College Testing (ACT) assessment actually raise student scores was studied with middle-class, private-school high school juniors and seniors of various ethnic backgrounds. The 1990-1991 test results for 30 students who had taken an ACT coaching course were compared with those of 30 students who had not.…

Several available summaries of research on coaching for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are described, and their principal findings are discussed. Several additional studies are reviewed, and their findings are related to the summaries. Overall, the effects of coaching may be less than many students suppose. (SLD)