Obviously, there are more nuanced decisions to be made. For example, if you are taking a test prep class, do you take a class with 20 students or 5? But, for the most part, I will stick to exploring the broad categories here.
Prep on Your Own
This is a self-designed, self-committed program. Therefore, this category requires outside prep materials like books, flashcards, and online programs. To use an exercise analogy, prepping on your own is going to the gym and figuring out your own workout. You might use workouts published in a fitness magazine to guide you, but it's basically up to you to figure out what you are going to do and how you are going to do it (maintaining form, completing all the sets, and so forth). This is the path that I took when I was prepping for my SATs and ACTs, and I did just fine. If you feel capable of self-prepping, you might be okay prepping on your own, too. Some advantages of this method are that it is the least expensive and most flexible time-wise. Although most tutors and coaches will do their best to accommodate your schedule, they are also juggling other students' schedules. When last minute changes come up, rescheduling becomes more complicated with other parties involved. And you certainly can't reschedule a whole class (but you might be able to attend another session of the class, if there is more than one section working at the same pace on different days or times). However, you also are missing some of the advantages of other formats: You don't have a person to bounce questions off of in real-time or to observe your test-taking technique. Having another person in the room allows an objective perspective on your work and personalized insights that you may not discover on your own. Additionally, you don't have anyone else setting the pace or directing the course of your prep. Most of the time, I don't think we "crack the whip" on ourselves the way an outsider does. This isn't necessarily because we are lazy or unfocused, but often the simple fact that we don't know any better. I didn't put NEARLY as many hours into prep as my students do and I didn't receive the refined guidance. And, I'm 100% sure that if, as a junior in high school, I'd had my-current-self as a coach, I would have performed even better than I did on both the SAT and the ACT. You won't have access to as many official materials as you will within some classes or with some tutors/coaches. NOTE: Not ALL classes or tutors/coaches provide additional test materials beyond those found in bookstores, so be sure to ask the person/organization with which you are interested in working if they do. Lastly, even though the scheduling flexibility is nice, the trade-off is that you don't have anyone holding you accountable. When the class meets or you have a session scheduled, you are responsible for preparing the homework by its deadline and showing up as scheduled. Ways to mitigate the drawbacks of prepping independently include setting and honoring a clear test prep schedule, finding accountability buddies among your friends with whom you can discuss your progress, and asking academic teachers for help on any topics you are having trouble figuring out on your own. Prep in a Class In a class, you work with other students under the guidance of a teacher. I'm pretty sure you understand the classroom construct after over a decade in school, but I will point out that virtual classes with interactive Office Hours fall into this category, too. To return to our gym analogy, prepping in a class is akin to taking an exercise class. You have an instructor in the room with you, but you won't receive the same personal feedback that you would working with a trainer one-on-one. He or she isn't always checking your form because there's a class to lead. The advantage is that you have a classroom of other students working on the same material as you are. They might ask questions that you didn't think of, but that illuminate a problem or a concept for you. You still have a schedule that holds you accountable. And, it's less expensive than one-on-one prep. The experience of classroom instructors (as well as coaches and tutors) will vary. The main disadvantages are 1) A class has a set curriculum designed for a general audience, not you specifically. If you are a math whiz, you will still need to spend the same amount of time on math as anyone else. If you have difficulty with reading comprehension, you may not be able to spend additional class time on it once the material has already been covered. There's a bigger chance of either feeling "behind" or "bored." 2) You won't receive the individualized feedback. 3) There's the least amount of scheduling flexibility. And 4) Without the immediacy of one-on-one work, you might have more difficulty staying focused. Ways to mitigate the drawbacks of prepping in a class include willingness to spend time outside of the classroom reviewing concepts about which you feel insecure, a commitment to the set class times, and taking the class with a like-minded friend who is willing to help you review classwork if you have to miss a class and of whom you can ask questions. One-on-One Prep One-on-one prep can take place with a tutor or a coach (like myself). To finish our exercise analogy, these are the personal trainers of the test prep realm. 100% of their focus is on you, your goals, and your efforts. To quickly distinguish between tutors and coaches, a tutor concentrates on the content of the test. He or she will probably also encourage basic test-taking techniques like skipping problems and eliminating answer choices. Most of his or her advice will fall within the curriculum in which he or she was trained, but it will also be adapted to meet your individual needs. A coach is someone who has the sensibility and experience to move beyond the specific test content to address you and how you work with the content. A coach can also help as you encounter resistance—the urge to not show up, the voice that says it's hopeless, the fear that you're really screwing this up. Resistance ALWAYS comes up when you pursue a goal or any sort of creative project. (I've addressed specific forms of resistance in various blog posts such as last week's.) A coach can elevate both your ability to take the test and your ability to work with the test. The lessons you learn with a coach may also impact other areas of your life, such as the way you set and pursue goals, the way you face challenges, and the way you handle stress. The advantages of one-on-one prep are many: you have all of the resources of a class (maybe more), plus you have individualized attention. The prep lasts as long as you need it. It moves as quickly or as slowly as you require. You can choose a tutor or a coach whose personality jibes with yours (as opposed to some randomly assigned classroom teacher). You have someone specific to bounce ideas off of and to cheer you on. The main disadvantages of one-on-one prep are the cost and the fact that if you don't have the RIGHT tutor or coach, he or she might actually undermine your prep. I've heard stories from my students of a tutor who spent large chunks of time talking about her upcoming wedding, and another who told a student that "Every time you answer a question wrong, it's like you're shooting me in the head," (the tutor was joking, but the graphic, violent image didn't do much to settle the student's nerves). Also, keep in mind that just because someone scored in the 99th percentile on their test or graduated from a top school does not mean that he or she is a great teacher. Not everyone who can do, can teach. They are different skills. The best way to mitigate the disadvantages of one-on-one prep are 1) to prepare for each session. As with anything, you get out of it what you you put into it—the more you dedicate yourself to the sessions, the sooner progress will come, the sooner progress comes, the fewer sessions you need, 2) to understand that you are not simply spending money, but, rather investing money in something that you value, and 3) to be discerning about whether or not the tutor or coach helps you to feel more powerful and capable or less and to make sure that you like your tutor/coach and look forward to your sessions. We work hard to make other areas like healthy eating and exercising pleasurable—why does test prep have to feel arduous? Remember, there's a chemistry element here, too. There might not be anything wrong with the tutor/coach—he might have worked wonders with your older brother or friend, but he might not be the right fit for you. That's it! You can certainly mix-and-match approaches. But, my biggest caveat to you is to recognize that time is a resource you can spend only once. {Tweet it} Whichever method you choose, try it, and give it your all.
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