Claims

Greater mathematics content in a practice test improves subsequent mathematics performance by a small amount (~2% of a standard deviation per hour of practice)

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2–r3 · q3
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q3 i? Students randomly assigned to practice tests with more mathematics content scored higher on a subsequent mathematics test, with 1 hour of additional mathematics practice improving scores by about 2% of a standard deviation (b = 2.29, SE = 0.84, p = 0.007). → Avvisati 2020 q3 i? Both the 1-hour group (G2) and the 1.5-hour group (G3) outperformed the 0.5-hour group (G1) on the target mathematics task, with no evidence of non-linearity in the dose–response relationship (p = 0.178). → Avvisati 2020 (2)

Evidence

Avvisati 2020

Avvisati, F., & Borgonovi, F. (2020). Learning Mathematics Problem Solving through Test Practice: a Randomized Field Experiment on a Global Scale. Educational Psychology Review, 32, 791–814. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09520-6

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Randomized field experiment within PISA 2012 across 32 countries (N = 19,355 in study 1). Students were randomly assigned to paper-based test forms containing 0.5, 1, or 1.5 hours of mathematics content within a 2-hour practice test. "1 h of additional problem-solving practice in mathematics improved students' ability to solve mathematics problems by about 2% of a standard deviation."

"1 h of additional problem-solving practice in mathematics improved students' ability to solve mathematics problems by about 2% of a standard deviation ( b = 2.29, SE = 0.84, p = 0.007 )"

Avvisati 2020 (2)

Avvisati, F., & Borgonovi, F. (2020). Learning Mathematics Problem Solving through Test Practice: a Randomized Field Experiment on a Global Scale. Educational Psychology Review, 32, 791–814. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09520-6

q3 · i? · causal · r3

Same randomized field experiment, non-parametric group comparisons from model 2 in Table 3. "both G2 and G3 outperformed G1 on the target task" with the reported coefficients and standard errors; the linear dose–response assumption could not be rejected (p = 0.178).

"Mean comparisons that do not assume a functional form for the dose –response relationship confirmed that both G2 and G3 outperformed G1 on the target task ( bG2-G1 = 2.40, SEG2-G1 = 1.09; bG3-G1 = 2.41, SEG3-G1 = 0.87 )"

Discussion

Page metadata
Field Value
type claim
id math-practice-test-improves-math-performance-small-effect
title Greater mathematics content in a practice test improves subsequent mathematics performance by a small amount (~2% of a standard deviation per hour of practice)
description Greater mathematics content in a practice test improves subsequent mathematics performance by a small amount (~2% of a standard deviation per hour of practice)
status review
evidence_strength moderate
newest_evidence 2020
generated by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-19
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 2 — avvisati-2020, avvisati-2020-2

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