By Miranda May Robertson
Experts and students say time and money invested in test-prep courses for graduate admission exams could be a waste.
'I think it''s very helpful,' said Jill Neilsen, a test-prep coordinator for BYU. 'But at the same time, if you have the will to do it on your own, I would save the money.'
The effectiveness of the courses depends on how much effort students put into it and how dedicated they are, she said
'You could probably just study it on your own,' Neilsen said. 'What''s nice is that the classes make you do it.'
BYU''s spring prep courses began last week and several sessions are scheduled for this summer and fall. BYU''s prep course for the GRE, a standardized test used for graduate school admissions, costs $250. Neilsen said this money pays for the teachers.
A wide range of help from private companies is also available if students are willing to pay for it. Kaplan and The Princeton Review, two of the biggest test-prep organizations, guarantee satisfaction with their prep courses. These companies charge up to $4,000 for help preparing for the GRE.
'They''d have to give you the answers to make that worth it,' said Matt Killpack, 23, a BYU graduate from Springville.
Killpack took the GRE in November and will be starting his master''s in counseling and psychology at BYU this fall.
The Educational Testing Service, which administers the GRE, sends each registered student a free practice test with the answers. Killpack said he used this practice test and books from the library to prepare.
'I didn''t think a course would be much more beneficial than those sources,' he said. 'I could do just as well on my own.'
Killpack said students who need a structured environment or those who can''t study on their own might benefit from a prep course.
Amber Jenson, the graduate secretary for BYU''s sociology department, said the GRE, a standardized test used for graduate admissions, is pretty important in the application process.
'Should you prepare for the test? Yes,' Kevin Gonzalez, spokesman for the Educational Testing Service, told the Daily Trojan, the student newspaper at the University of Southern California, in October. 'We''ve always stated that we have problems with the inflated claims made by commercial test-prep companies.
'We think that with the investment made, you''d be better off doing other things,' Gonzalez continued. 'You probably won''t be getting the scores claimed by the test-prep companies.'
The GRE costs $105 to take in the U.S. It consists of three scored sections - the verbal ability section, the quantitative ability section, and, new last October, the analytical writing assessment.