As the spring SAT dates approach, many students look for ways to prepare themselves for this type of college admissions test. The SAT is a standardized test that college admissions officers use to compare students by the same standards. To aid in this preparation, Ginger Niemeyer, vice principal, and Allen Tong, math teacher, are offering a preparatory class on campus.

“We are offering this prep class to prepare students for the SAT,” Niemeyer said. “Some students have told me they took the prep class at Kaplan, and they don’t think it helped their test results.”

Kaplan, a well-known SAT prep organization in Fresno, offers programs that provide the resources to build the skills and knowledge needed to take the SAT. This intense review does come at a price. For 12 sessions, the cost is $799.

Many students are willing to pay the price to do their best on the SAT.

“I took a two day USC seminar at the Radisson,” Lacy Hearnsberger, ’03, said. “The seminar was designed to help you be able to score better on the PSAT and the SAT. The cost was $200, but it was definitely worth it.”

Some students prefer to take the preparation class with teachers they know, rather than take a course where all the teachers are strangers.

“I would rather take the prep class on campus because I know the teachers, and they should be able to help me better personally,” Susan Portugal, ’03, said. “Also, the prep class offered on campus is a lot cheaper than taking it from Kaplan.”

The preparatory class offered on campus would be a workshop on two different Saturdays, the first on March 2, and the second on March 9. One Saturday would involve a review in English, and the other would be a review in Math. The review process includes taking practice tests, which would help students get an idea of what the actual test will be like. The cost of this review is only $25.

“I want to take the prep course on campus because I need to get a 1200 on the SAT to get into the Smittcamp at FS,” Jonathan Howard, ’03, said. “The prep course on campus is cheaper than Kaplan, and I think that it will be beneficial for me to take.”

The SAT is offered March 16, May 4, and June 1. The sign-up deadlines are Feb. 8, March 29, and April 26. The cost to take the SAT is $25.

For more information on the Kaplan preparatory course, call 225-4203, or visit their website at www.kaptest.com. For more information on the SAT visit www.collegeboard.com.