Role of practice tests in the accuracy of test predictions on text material.

The role of practice tests in predictions about test performance on texts was investigated. Generally, subjects predicted their relative performance on texts accurately. However, answering practice-test questions that were drawn from the same pool as criterion-test questions did not improve prediction accuracy. The main reason for this was that practice-test scores for specific texts did not correlate with criterion-test scores. In addition, neither practice tests that were identical to the criterion tests nor practice tests consisting of the question stems improved the accuracy of test predictions relative to no-practice tests