5/8/2017
New Data Links 20 Hours of Personalized Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy to 115-Point Average Score Gains on Redesigned SAT
Score improvements consistent across gender, family income, race, and ethnicity
NEW YORK and MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — New data show studying for the SAT® for 20 hours on free Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy is associated with an average score gain of 115 points, nearly double the average score gain compared to students who don’t use Khan Academy. Out of nearly 250,000 test takers studied, more than 16,000 gained 200 points or more between the PSAT/NMSQT® and SAT.
Khan Academy and the College Board announced the new findings today based on data from the first full year of the new SAT.
“On the new SAT, it’s easier than ever for students to show their best work. Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy is free and personalized, and we see students achieving substantial score gains,” said College Board President David Coleman. “The SAT has now become an invitation for students to practice and grow.”
In addition to the 115-point average score increase associated with 20 hours of practice, shorter practice periods also correlate with meaningful score gains. For example, 6–8 hours of practice on Official SAT Practice is associated with an average 90-point increase.
“The SAT is a strong measure of college readiness. It is heartening to see this positive association between personalized practice on Khan Academy and growth in college readiness,” said Khan Academy founder and CEO Sal Khan. “This was only possible because of the hard work of many people, especially incredible teachers, counselors and school districts who have leveraged these practice tools for their students.”
The College Board waited for a large enough sample size and a full year of data to analyze and release these results. Researchers confirmed that practice advanced students regardless of gender, race, income, and high school GPA. The College Board will further explore the role of motivation in producing these results as well as how best to encourage more students to practice productively.
Since its launch in June 2015, more than 3.7 million students have used Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy. Nearly 40 percent of all test takers reported using Official SAT Practice, making it the number one tool for SAT preparation.
Khan Academy and the College Board developed Official SAT Practice to create free, personalized tools so students, regardless of their income level or background, can prepare for the SAT and college-level courses.
Each student accesses a plan built just for them. By linking their College Board and Khan Academy accounts, students can use their scores from the SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT™ 10, and PSAT™ 8/9 to determine what areas to focus on.
Through Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy, students access video lessons, test-taking tips and strategies, and over 10,000 interactive practice questions. And they get eight full-length, free practice tests written by the College Board test design team.
Official SAT Practice reinforces what students learn in school by letting them focus on the knowledge and skills most essential for college. Behind every story of a student succeeding is a teacher, counselor, adviser, coach, parent, or other caring adult. Approximately 28 percent of usage on Official SAT Practice happens during school hours. In the next year, Khan Academy and the College Board will continue to work with educators to support students’ SAT practice.
The redesigned SAT, first administered in March 2016, makes it easy for students to show their best work. There’s no penalty for guessing, gone are “SAT words” that no one has seen before or will likely see again, and only relevant math concepts are tested.
The class of 2017 is the largest in history to take the SAT, with nearly 1.7 million students taking the redesigned test as of April 2017.
Additional information:
- Student interviews available in the following regions: Florida, Texas, Michigan, and California. Contact [email protected] to request a student interview.
- Video announcement from Khan Academy founder and CEO Sal Khan
Contacts:
College Board
Zach Goldberg
[email protected]
212-713-8052
Khan Academy
Barb Kunz
[email protected]
650-429-8154
About Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a nonprofit with a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. We use intelligent software, data analytics, and intuitive user interfaces to help students and teachers around the world. Our resources cover math, biology, chemistry, physics, history, economics, finance, grammar, preschool learning, and more. We enable students of all ages to learn at their own pace on their own time. Khan Academy provides teachers with tools and data so they can help their students develop the skills, habits, and mindsets they need to succeed in school and beyond. We offer free personalized SAT test prep in partnership with the test developer, the College Board. Khan Academy has been translated into dozens of languages, and 100 million people use our platform worldwide every year. For more information, visit www.khanacademy.org, join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @khanacademy. And remember, you can learn anything.