In order to help prepare students for the upcoming state-required SAT exam, Prospect will be offering two after school online SAT Test Prep programs for juniors in February. The online remote six-week program will be held on Tuesday evenings from 5:45 pm to 8:45 pm or Wednesdays from 4 pm to 7 pm.  

Last year, in order for students to take these prep programs, they had to pay a fee of 140 dollars. This school year, the fee will be waived for the SAT Test Prep after school program.

Janice Sokolik, a District 214 Test Assessment Supervisor, believes that waiving the fee for the after school program will be a little more fair than in years past.

“I think that having no cash fee should provide students equal opportunity,” Sokolik said. “They don’t have to get money from their parents to take these classes, all they have to do is register.”

Certainly this helps put students on a level playing field when it comes to opportunities to take advantage of these classes. 

Junior Kevin Tran says that while he was probably going to be registered by his parents regardless of the test fee, he knows others who are going to be attending the classes that weren’t before.

“I definitely know a couple people that I didn’t think would be interested in the prep classes after school, that are taking them after they found out that it’s online and free,” Tran said.

According to an Oxford University study, students who are enrolled in SAT prep classes score about 56 points higher on their exams than other students who did not take the course. There are clear benefits to taking these classes, unfortunately, nationwide these classes are expensive. Tran hopes that these courses can be made cheaper and therefore more accessible to everyone.

“I think SAT scores everywhere would go up if everybody had the same access to prep courses,” Tran said.