[gamedori]

Current research shows a 20~30 point SAT1 improvement from specialized coaching [1]:

> From 1981 to 1990, three separate analyses of all the prior studies were published in peer-reviewed journals. They found a coaching effect of 9 to 25 points on the SAT Verbal and of 15 to 25 points on the SAT Math. In 2004, Derek Briggs, using the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, found effects of 3 to 20 points for the SAT Verbal and 10 to 28 points for the SAT Math. Donald Powers and Donald Rock, using a nationally representative sample of students who took the SAT after its revisions in the mid-1990s, found an average coaching effect of 6 to 12 points on the SAT Verbal and 13 to 18 points on the SAT Math.

I have not seen any studies on the effect of accomodations, though.

I think the amount parents will pay for those relatively meagre extra points, and the fact that the parents in this case had to resort open bribery, speaks relatively well for the meritocraticness of the current system.

Open the books, show us that nothing is being swept under the rug, and just let the undeserving children of millionaires go to third tier schools.

[1] http://www.aei.org/publication/abolish-the-sat-2/