What are you prepping for? Test prep courses take a hit

A recent article from Education Week by Caralee J. Adams, courtesy of Tutorpedia's Director Seth Linden, questions the effect of expensive test preparation courses on student scores. Test preparation for the SATs and the ACT - and let's not forget the myriad of graduate admissions tests that will eventually follow in their wake, such as the LSAT - has evolved into a veritable industry. Companies such as Revolution Prep routinely promise increases in student scores by 200-300 points after the completion of one prep course. The Princeton Review and Kaplan have, until recently, provided bios of individual students who claim supreme satisfaction after bumping their scores up by hundreds of points.

Should you believe the hype? Not necessarily, claims Adams in Education Week. Test prep courses, which are starting to seem like a pre-requisite for college admission, are phenomenally expensive and not all test prep companies - though Revolution Prep is one of them - offer scholarships to students from low-income families. Parents shell out hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars for the promised increase in test scores, which could more often than not be achieved with the help of free online practice tests and other tools now accessible through the internet community. Students who have the will to study and make individualized study plans often do as well, if not better, than those who are spoon-fed the same tactics in a test prep course. And the most important catalyst for success, experts say, is a solid base in English and math, which students should be receiving in school. Read, study, and put your heart into what you're learning, says the author of this latest post in Education Week, and you've already got a lot going for you.