Balt. Sun: Preparing for SAT may not pay big returns

The Baltimore Sun's Inside Ed column on a new report out from the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Two of the conclusions from the report:

Because empirical evidence suggests that the average effects of commercial coaching programs are small, students should be counseled to consider less costly forms of test preparation available by using books or the Internet. High school students and their families should be counseled to be wary of coaching rip-offs

As it has been found that even small test score increases may increase a student’s chances of admission at selective institutions, if money and time are no object, commercial coaching or private tutoring may well be worth the cost. However, this will primarily be true for students with above average admission test scores in the first place.