In using Practice D3960 to measure the volatile organic compound content of waterborne coatings, precision can be poor for low volatile organic compound content air-dry coatings if the volatile organic weight percent is determined indirectly. The present method directly identifies and then quantifies the weight percent of individual volatile organic compounds in air-dry coatings (Note 6). The total volatile organic weight percent can be obtained by adding the individual weight percent values (Note 7).