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Jones, R. F. (1986) The Effect of Commercial Coaching Courses on Performance on the MCAT. Journal of Medical Education, 61, 273-284.

PURPOSE: This paper reported two studies that examined the relationship between taking a commercial coaching course and performance on the MCAT.

METHOD: For the repeating examinee study, the data are obtained from MCAT's examinee database from the years 1977 through 1981 (n= 18,598). First, the examinees who took the MCAT in the same year twice (Spring and August) were selected. The examinees who had taken a commercial course before the Spring exam and those for whom that information was not available were eliminated from the sample. Then, the examinees divided into two groups: Those who took a commercial coaching course prior to Fall administration and those who did not. For the first-time examinee study (n=19,564), two measures were used to control prior differences in ability and achievement between those who had enrolled in a commercial couching course and who had not: Undergraduate GPA and selectivity of undergraduate institute.

RESULTS: The results of both studies showed that commercial coaching courses have an effect on performance on the MCAT. However, this effect was small and limited to particular subtests. In both studies, one based on repeating examinees and another based on first-time examinees, differences in scores are favoring coached examinees were found on the Science Knowledge and Science Problems subtests. The results on the Skills Analysis: Quantitative subtest were mixed, while neither study found differences between the two groups in scores on the Skills Analysis: Reading Subset. The analyses further revealed that the differences on the scores on the Science Knowledge and Science Problems subtests were less pronounced for examinees with low scores on the Skills Analysis: Reading and Skills Analysis: Quantitative subtests, examinees from very selective undergraduate colleges.

CONCLUSION: The findings of the study suggested that the coaching effect increases an average student's probability of acceptance by 5 percentage points. The small and limited effect of couching was evaluated as a support for the validity of the test.