Let’s face it, as a high school student, you’re busy. After a long day of school, you have club meetings, practices, countless homework assignments and exams. Then, your junior year hits and suddenly, on top of everything, you have SATs, ACTs, and AP tests coming at you like a speeding bullet. You want to make your college application competitive and you need to make sure that your test scores fully reflect your academic potential. This is when the big question comes up – should you self-study or take a prep course for your standardized tests?
If you are considering self-study, it is important to first evaluate yourself as a student. Are you disciplined enough to put in the time required to prepare for your exam, regardless of how tired or overloaded with homework or extracurricular activities you are? Can you teach yourself all of the test-taking techniques found in your practice books and successfully be able to apply them to various types of problems? Will you be able to work through all the questions and test-taking strategies without any outside help? Only if you answered “yes” to all three of these questions is self-study an option for you; but that does not mean that you will not still benefit from a test prep course.
Test prep courses provide a classroom environment in which the instructor is able to help students pinpoint their weaknesses and work through them by learning new strategies and approaches. While standardized tests are designed to evaluate a student’s knowledge, they are also a test of the ability to break complex problems into quick and simple solutions.
Test prep courses provide a structured way of learning to keep students focused on their goals and allow students to complete their prep in a set amount of time before the exam. By spreading the course over 4-6 weeks, the student is able to fully absorb new tips and tricks, and practice in a realistic test environment, decreasing anxiety and nervousness of the actual exam. Soon, the test that once seemed like a foreign language will become second nature.
Victory Step strives to create a productive and fun atmosphere for students to complete their test prep. With average class sizes of 8-10 students, instructors are able to work closely with students to help them maximize their scores and test-taking abilities. Instructors are creative and inspiring and keep students interested and motivated in their test prep. With numerous practice tests, students are constantly exposed to realistic testing scenarios and are able to monitor their own progress throughout the course.
It is important to remember that standardized tests require time and practice. Victory Step helps students more efficiently put their time and energy into achieving a score that reflects their full potential and ability.
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Saloni Kumar
SAT/ACT Test Prep
Victory Step
Well said!!
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