By Jessica Forsyth
Palms begin to sweat. Eyes widen. A face turns pale in a panicked expression. A student has just realized he has not prepared well enough for a test with larger implications than just a grade.
To ease the pressure in applying for graduate schools and taking admissions tests, several math lab teaching assistants will provide a free course for students preparing to take the GMAT and GRE tests.
The math lab”s preparation course will focus primarily on the mathematics portion of each test and will include an in-depth review of geometry, algebra and other important mathematical concepts.
The course will not only concentrate on mathematics, but will also touch on effective test-taking strategies for taking the GMAT and GRE exams, said Debra Linford, assistant supervisor of the math lab and one of the TAs who will be teaching the course.
Marcus Urie and Mark Spencer will also be teaching the class. Urie and Spencer, head TAs in the math lab, came up with the idea for the course during fall semester.
Urie said the course was not as publicized last semester and attendance only reached about 60 or 70 students.
Though the class size was relatively small, Urie said the TAs received a lot of positive feedback from students.
“Most people really enjoyed it,” Urie said. “There were a few people that gave us some really good comments at the end, who really liked it and thought it was helpful.”
Urie and Linford said they think the course”s enrollment will be much larger this semester.
Linford said she has already received about 200 e-mails expressing interest in the course and expects the class size to reach between 100 and 200 students.
“I think it”s going to be better this semester because we”re taking more time to plan it,” Urie said. “And the course is going to be longer, so we”ll be able to cover more and go into more depth.”
The course will span four weeks consisting of two two-hour sessions each week.
These tests examine a student”s ability in several areas, including writing, verbal and mathematical skills.
Though it does not require a textbook, students are suggested to buy a GMAT and GRE math review book in the BYU Bookstore because questions will be assigned from it each week.
The course will begin March 17, 2004 and will be held every Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in 2104 JKHB and Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. in 1170 TMCB. To register, students should e-mail Linford at .
