Do Predictive Inferences Made from Admissions Test Scores Vary by Amount and Type of Test Preparation?

Standardized test scores play a significant role in college admission, it is thus crucial to examine factors influencing their fairness. An underexamined issue is the association between participation in test preparation programs and test scores’ predictive validity of academic performance. Very few studies have explored this issue, and none of them was conducted in a field setting using actual academic outcomes. To fill the gap, we analyzed how test preparation is related to the association between ACT scores and student performance in a sample of around 1,000 students in an introductory psychology class. Although our results showed that ACT scores were more predictive of two course elements for students who received more coaching, the effects were trivial in magnitudes and practical significance. Overall, we conclude that involvement in admission test preparation programs is not strongly associated with the fairness of using these scores in admission decisions.