This study investigated the effect of a linguistically based coaching program (with special attention given to the syntactic and semantic requirements of standardized language arts achievement tests) on the performance of selected black high school students on objective tests. The five subjects, one male and four female, were high school juniors who volunteered to participate in a 15-week reading study skills workshop. The final six weeks of the workshop consisted of a unit on test wiseness. Results of the study show that certain test taking behaviors can be improved and that the use of untimed tests for linguistically different students may be successful in reducing the inhibiting effects of worry resulting from potential dialect interference. (A review of pertinent literature, a bibliography, and an outline of the test wiseness sessions are included.) (JM)