Advice from an expert on how to maximize the effectiveness of your prep—and your score!

There is a bewildering array of choices and tools available to improve scores on standardized tests (SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, etc)—and with it the chance one will gain admission to a most desired college or graduate program. With this post, I hope to reduce confusion around these choices to help you find the clearest, most-efficient, cost-effective path to maximizing your score.

As a former, long-time test prep executive who ran product development for the world’s largest SAT preparation company (Princeton Review), I know first hand the diversity of products in the market. I spent over 15 years trying to help as many students as possible with our programs, so I understand what makes test prep effective (or not).

It was rewarding career; but I’m also excited to be with Brainscape, a company focused on the larger mission of helping students of all ages to learn as efficiently as possible. Brainscape will offer tools to assist in test preparation (e.g. for vocabulary), but it’s not our focus. However, today I will start sharing what I know about test prep.

First, a few facts, which I believe will be reassuring.

You really can prepare for most standardize tests and raise your score.

Test Preparation can and often does work very well. I watched this in the data from probably over a million total students during my career at Princeton Review. The test writers may argue, but their goofy arguments fly in the face of the reality that year after year millions of people would not do something that doesn’t work. Test Prep can work for you.

The most important choice you will make is designing a preparation program for YOU — one in which you will truly engage.

The company is not your most important choice. The type of service is likely MUCH more important—a book, a classroom or online course, a tutor, etc. If you choose the right approach, you’ll get most of the benefit of what might be some mythical PERFECT program.

Are you a disciplined self-studier? What works best for you historically for learning content and skills you’re not too excited about? Live classroom instruction? Online instruction? Tutoring? Self-study tools (e.g. books)? A mix of all of the above? Choosing your APPROACH for test prep is the most important decision.

If you choose that preparation approach wisely, there are many decent companies and products out there.

I probably wouldn’t have said this publicly during my career at Princeton Review, but there really are many decent-to-great books, courses, tutors, online services, etc. out there. Sure, some are better than others. Some much better. But even if I would tell you that The Princeton Review’s SAT prep books are much better than another SAT prep books, you can still get 70% of the preparation benefit using that other book—as long as you are someone who can prepare with a book. That’s right; if you are someone who will engage and learn effectively that way, a $20 book will work for you.

However. such folks are rare: many students want and need guidance from a human expert—a classroom teacher or tutor. That’s the reason so many students use tutors or courses: they need the backbone of human guidance throughout a comprehensive preparation program to be focused, do the work, and therefore raise their scores.

So pick the right approach first, whatever it is. From there, I’m telling you that you can benefit from many of the products out there for that approach. Your world will not end if you choose Kaplan instead of Princeton Review for a course, even if I knew Princeton Review courses were getting 20% better score improvement than were other courses once upon a time. You still can get most of the benefit from any decent course if a course is right for you.

In the weeks ahead, I will offer you loads of other advice and support on this blog including:

• What makes for a great comprehensive test prep program?
• What do standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, or MCAT really measure? Do they really predict how well one will do in school?
• How much time do I need to prepare for a standardized test?
• Test Prep can be expensive. Is it worth it? Does more expensive = better?
• Can I prepare online for a standardized test as effectively as I could prepare with a live course or a tutor?
• What are the best iTunes / iPhone applications out there for test preparation?

However, for now, start your preparation answering one really important question: “What do you need to be engaged in test prep consistently for many hours and many weeks?” If you are the disciplined, self-studier who can learn with a book – even one that may bore you to tears, then go for it. But please be honest!