An experiment employing a 2x2x3 factorial design sought to determine the extent to which socially disadvantaged elementary school students' unfamiliarity with some terms in a verbal subsection of a group intelligence test may account for their relatively poor performance on such tests. Training was provided so as to attempt improvement in these students' test performance. Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade disadvantaged children (288 in number) were randomly assigned within sex and classrooms either to a relevant or irrelevant familiarization condition. Four trials of pronouncing and writing 20 verbal items later encountered in context as part of a modified Subtest Number 7 of the California Short-Form Test of Mental Maturity comprised the familiarization process. Treatment differences involved different word lists. Immediately following this, students read the story part of the Subtest and answered the 25 multiple-choice questions. A spelling test on the 20 relevant terms followed. Analysis of variance of the data showed that although the "relevant familiarization" group was superior to the "irrelevant familiarization" group on the spelling test, there were no significant differences between the groups on Subtest 7. Further analysis disclosed that only a minority of the "relevant familiarization" group managed to finish the experimental treatment before being introduced to the story; results were, thus, held to be inconclusive. (Authors/JM)