An investigation of the effects of intense coaching on SAT I verbal scores of a select group of high school juniors

• Main Author: Pennamon, Kimberly J.
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center 1996
• Subjects: Counseling; Counseling Psychology
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/2752; http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4277&context=dissertations

This study investigated the effects of a counseling module on SAT I verbal test scores. The junior high school subjects, who were enrolled un an Upward Bound Program, consisted of three males and two females. The subjects met the program's income and academic criteria. A quasi-experimental method was used consisting of a pre- and post-test design. The SAT I Prep Class constituted the module used. The duration of the class was 60 days using a total of 10.91 hours of contact time over nine meetings. The researcher found the pre- and post-test verbal test scores were 418 and 412, respectively. Th difference was 6 between these two means. The t-test value was .096 with eight degrees of freedom. This value was statistically insignificant at the .05 level of confidence. Therefore, the null hypothesis was not rejected. The use of this coaching module had no significant effects on these students' performance on the verbal component of the SAT I. Implications of the study suggest that verbal knowledge seems to be quite stable and not easily influenced by coaching. Furthermore, this type of coaching should not be recommended for these types of students. It is recommended that more carefully designed research be done in this area utilizing representative samples of populations about whom generalizations can be made.