Teaching Test-Taking Skills aims to improve the validity of the test. It makes scores more accurately reflect what students really know by making sure that students lose points only because they do not know the information. Teachers can focus on whether poor performance reflects students' low levels of knowledge, or merely poor skills in applying what they know to tests.
Test-wise individuals often score higher than others of equal ability who may not use test-taking skills effectively. They use their knowledge of specific test formats and testing situations to show what they know! Test-taking skills training teaches general concepts about the test format or other conditions of testing, not specific items on the test.
The authors have found that younger students, low-achieving students of all ages characterized as "special" or "remedial," minority students, and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds benefit particularly from test-taking skills training. Gains of 10-15 percentile points or six months of school achievement are common. Some individual gains are much greater.