This paper examines the dynamics of the prevalence of pre-entry coaching and corresponding investment in private tutoring before and after the introduction of the Unified State Exam (the USE). Besides, we estimate the effectiveness of private tutoring in 2012, i. e. a few years after the USE has...

This paper examines the effects of pre-entry coaching on achievement of Russian high school graduates as measured by the results of the Unified state examination (USE). We estimate the factors which determine the final USE results. Parental education, family income, student’s abilities and the...

We estimate the correlation between student’s choice of specialization and the choices of the students connected by social ties. We use data on students of Economics department at one of the Russian universities and show that the choice is linked with the choice of friends as well as study...

We estimate the influence of classmates ability characteristics on student achievement in exogenously formed student groups. The study uses the administrative data on undergraduate students in large selective university in Russia. The presence of high-ability classmates has positive effect on...