Test preparation tips:
Is a test prepartion course right for you?

In this test preparation tips section, I discuss the things I wish I knew before I took the GRE (Graduate Records Examination) test preparation course from Kaplan. Besides the test preparation fee, there are other things you need to consider if you're thinking of taking the course. These are:

• Amount of study time
• Guidelines or conditions of the course
• Amount of practice tests that the course offers
• Type of instructions that works best for your (e.g. online vs. in-class vs. both)

Here is a detailed description for each item in relation to my own experience...

One of the first things you need to consider if a test preparation course is right for you is the amount of time that you can set aside to study for a standardized test such as the GRE or the MCAT. When I decided to take Kaplan's GRE test preparation course, I had 3 months before I was scheduled to take the GRE. I thought I had enough time but I was wrong. This is because during those 3 months, I was still going to school and working part-time. As a result, my spare time was very limited and I was not able to take full advantage of the course's benefits. Because of this, I had to take the test again to be able to get a better score. However, I knew that if I had a lot of time to study, I would have gotten a good score during the first time that I took the GRE.

In addition to your available time, one of the most important test preparation tips I can give you is: read the higher score guarantee guidelines or conditions. Of course, this tip only applies if you're planning to take a test preparation course with Kaplan. In general, Kaplan's higher score guarantee does what it says. It guarantees a higher score or they will refund your money IF (big if): you re-take the course and the class during a certain period of time. During the time that I took the course, I had 6 months from when I took my first class to re-take the class and re-test for the GRE. This time frame may change so be sure to read everything before you sign up for a test preparation course. When this time frame passes and you still want/need to review for your standardized test, Kaplan will usually allow you to pay a much lower fee than what you paid the first time.

Once you decide to take the test preparation course, make sure that you go through all the practice tests in class and online. This is one of the most useful test preparation tips that I can give you because I do wish that I can turn back time and do all of them. Practice does make perfect because not only are you getting a feel of how the actual test experience will be like, you are also getting more exposure to the concepts that you need to know. In addition, you are solving/answering questions that are similar to the actual test questions. Furthermore, your scores are calculated exactly the same way as the actual test. Thus, you will get a constant feedback on how well you're progressing and which concepts or types of questions that you still need to work on.

When I finally decided to sign-up for Kaplan's test preparation course, I chose the one that has both the in-class and online elements. This is a good choice to take if you learn better with live instruction. In class, our instructor taught us tricks and tips for solving problems. We also interacted with the whole class while we solved problems by ourselves and then tell the whole class how we approached a certain problem. For instance, each chapter in the Kaplan book ends with a few practice questions. We will then solve these questions during a specified period of time (e.g. 10 minutes for 8 questions) then, the whole class will discuss how they solved the problem(s).

Personally, I liked going to the test preparation classes because of the human interaction that I get from it. Moreover, I was able to pick up on tricks that other people have done to solve the questions/problems more efficiently. Another advantage that exists in this format is: you can go to your instructor's office hours whenever you need more tutoring. In a way, your classmates and your instructor serve as a support group. This factor, in itself, eases your stress because you'll know where to find help whenever you need it.

I've always stressed the value of having a support group because I have benefited from it many times before. This is also the reason why I included it in this test preparation tips section. I hope that you'll find these tips helpful just like I did.

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