<p>I was thinking of becoming a SAT teacher for Kaplan, Princeton, or some other standardized test preparation company. BTW, i'm 18 years old and am a freshman at community college. Money is certaintly a big issue for me. I think that by becoming a teacher for standardized test will help better acclimate me to LSAT tests (even though i know they are not the same). But i like math, reading, and writing, so 2 out of 3 isn't so bad, right? Also, i heard that Kaplan would let me take a preparation class for LSAT for free. I don't know how much those classes run around, but free doesn't sound bad to me. I don't know how much the pay. I assuming that they pay in accordance to your experience and degree. I have none. It says that teaching experience is not needed, so i guess i'm qualified for a job there. They also said that they would reimburse their teachers if they have to commute from afar. </p>
<p>I thought that was pretty much assumable. Of course you need a high SAT score to become a teacher. They don't want incompetent teachers to teach students. What do you take me for, an idiot? If you don't have a decent (or atleast a good attempt) answer to the question, please don't respond. Thank you.</p>
<p>edit: I've just read one of your posts in another thread. You made a sweeping statement about how many of the people in that particular thread were idiots. I can tell that you aren't a nice person and you lack humility (referring to how you took a practice LSAT test and boasted about how you scored in the 99th percentile). All i have to say is beware of karma, you fiendish snob. And, if you think that all my typos and grammatical errors in my previous post were indicative of low intelligence or an incapability to teach SATs, you're an arrogant jerk. Thank you for taking time to read this.</p>
<p>You know that might have been an honest question... From your response I don't feel that you'd last teaching a prep class as wouldn't it be filled with "stupid" questions? Wouldn't your ability to overlook the dumb questions and try to offer solutions be helpful? I think while you may feel the money is good, you might find yourself surrounded by "dumb" people and I think if you treat an innocent question as the other person presented with such outrage, as you DIDN'T give your score and are enrolled in a CC (not necessarily the sign of a high score), it might be reasonable to ask you. no?</p>
<p>First off, i can't believe i'm being antagonized after i just asked a simple question. And, i never said that his/her question was stupid. I said it was insulting. That wasn't a dumb question, it was a question meant to spite me. So you need to reread what i posted. I wanted a decent answer, not something to degrade to me. The reason why i gave a tidbit of background information about me attending community college and how money was an issue for me was so the reader could infer that i'm not in the best of financial situations, so i have to attend community college unwillingly. Any more questions, opiefrommayberry? Or are you going to nitpick at some silly thing and avoid answering the initial question? Which was, do you think that my plan sounded like a good idea? And please answer the question objectively without noting the fact that i attend a CC. If you can't answer without being prejudiced against my current learning institution, pretend i attend 30 grand/year learning institution. But if you want to start anew and clear all the hostitility out of the air, just assume that i'm a person capable of teaching the SATs and who is eager to do well on the LSATs.</p>
<p>And so much for actually reading my entire posts. Instead, you looked for the first negative statement that satisfied your point, and proceeded to render your own conclusion. This is an insult to one's intelligence in itself, so I need not say anything more.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And, if you think that all my typos and grammatical errors in my previous post were indicative of low intelligence or an incapability to teach SATs, you're an arrogant jerk.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I just asked a question, and nothing else was logically implied by that question. Your insults are unnecessary.</p>
<p>Funny how the role the OP accused me of occupying, that of being a presumptuous a s s, is being rather well fulfilled by the OP rather than me.</p>
<p>Sorry, i really was being presumptuous. That was my bad. But still, you have to admit that your post kind of came off with a negative connotation. Don't you think that it is safe to assume that i knew an applicant needed a high SAT score to become a teacher. I think it is because i discussed what the job entailed and had to offer, so obviously i knew all the requisites for the job. But if you're being honest, which i have no reason to believe that you're not, i'm sorry. The quote that you posted was also a little presumptuous also. I realized you had no real basis for insulting me if that was your intention, so i thought it was either the way i conducted my post or the fact that i went to a CC. </p>
<p>Now that you know one needs a high SAT score to become a teacher, do you think it is a good plan for someone who is eager to get into a free preparation class for the LSATs?</p>
<p>You know you've answered my question as far as is it possible for you to do this.. NO. It's not. </p>
<p>Only in the political forum parents posts do I run across such an attitude of attack first. </p>
<p>Knowing you wouldn't take advice from me anyway, I'll still offer this up... if you are going to help people (which is the basis of the job your asking about) you have to start from a belief that all questions stupid or not, come from an innocent basis. You've had two people post and you've jumped on both. It's one thing to eventually get a bit angry over something, it's another to start out that way. </p>
<p>That style alone would be enough if I was your potential boss to not hire you. You would be dealing with my customers, in other words my INCOME and if you are this sensitive to uncomfortable or poorly worded questions, you are a risk I wouldn't be willing to take on with my customers. </p>
<p>There's a maturity issue involved here, that honestly I don't think you see about yourself. Good luck if you can do it, but think before you speak or write anymore. You're your own worst ememy right now. Calm down and think a bit. Why on earth would I attack you? And how hard did you have to look at my first post to find anything that warranted the reply you gave me?</p>
<p>Now i see that you weren't attacking you me. I guess you were being "brutally honest." Even though you don't know me or my prior experiences in other forums, you made your decision which reflected off my posts in this thread. You made an honest one. But now, let me rephrase the question. Generally speaking, one that is able to adequately handle any type of question, who is eager to do well on the LSATs, who wants to get into the free preparation class that Kaplan offers to their SAT teachers, and who is a freshman at college now: Should they think this to be a good plan?</p>
<p>I teach for Kaplan and another service at the moment (don't tell anyone since its against their rules :P) in my spare time. Kaplan has great written materials and most tutors can get easy access to them. The biggest advantage of Kaplan is just the sheer amount of literature they have on all the subjects which is greaet for a self-starter. The tutoring is uneven and really dependent on the quality of students they are able to attract, which in many cases may not be great.</p>
<p>I believe any tutoring job can be good as long as you can get access to a back catalog of old tests for whatever it is you want to desire to study. Those are usually the best way to study.</p>
<p>this is my take on the situation not tying to attack or marginalize you just giving it to you straight.</p>
<p>Kaplan, PR, and all of the others are trying to sell a perception; if you plunk down $1000 and take our course, your score will go up X # of points and you will be a competitive candidate for school A, B, or C.</p>
<p>that being said, when you fill out the application, especially as a freshman, one of the first questions that is going to asked (after the breakdown of your scores) is why are you attending community college? </p>
<p>Unless you are attending for anything financial reasons (even then, there would be an expectation that you are in the honors program at your local 4 year school) or family commitments where you could not attend a "better" school" at this time, it is going to be a ding against you. One of the questions your students are going to ask you is what is your score and where did you get accepted (sorry it is just going to be the nature of the business).</p>
<p>They may also want to see a copy of your high school transcript in addition to your current college schedule or transcript. My take on this is as a freshman, I don't think you will not have developed a track record and your relevant past behavior (your perfromance in high school) will be a gauge to assess your future behavior. </p>
<p>If any of this is going to be a problem, I would suggest waiting until you had a little more college under my belt, preferably until you were in a 4 year school (that way you can distance your self from your high school and community college ) </p>
<p>LOL, whenever I read a post that nspeds had graced, there seems to be some sort of contention between him and someone in the post. Not saying he started them, but it does follow him around.</p>
<p>For political correctness reasons, I would never list experience at a test-prep company on a resume. (It's always possible that I'm being ridiculous/paranoid on the issue, of course, but that is how I would act.)</p>
<p>From my standpoint, much of the reason to pursue a job at this age is to gain the experience and credentialing. So that removes a significant proportion of the reason to work there.</p>
<p>I believe that many LSAT prep courses run approximately $1300+, with any sort of private or group tutoring also being pretty steep. That said, how self-motivated are you? You can print tests offline and buy plenty of prep books for much less expensive, and quite honestly, get the same content. The benefit of a prep course is that you're held accountable (to some degree) for work and attendance. Also bear in mind that you are planning FAR ahead right now, and could potentially get another job (more resume friendly if you agree with bluedevilmike) and save to purchase a prep course (or related materials) in the future. How much of a time commitment is this type of position? I've heard that it can be a lot, in which case you should consider whether there's any way you COULD work and take a course and maintain a high GPA, etc.</p>
<p>I've heard various reviews from prep-test program employees, so I think it's probably largely dependent on individual preferences. Quite frankly, I think it sums up pretty easily:</p>
<p>If you want the job, apply for it.</p>
<p>If you don't, don't.</p>
<p>There are other ways to prep for the LSAT and there are other ways to earn money. You're not forced into a corner either way. Your reasoning is logical enough, but not so much that either choice is clearly ridiculous.</p>
<p>I taught LSAT classes at Kaplan in the early eighties. My training consisted of being asked to listen to a series of tapes of someone else teaching the same course. I listened to a couple of them, and found the quality to be appalling.</p>
<p>I had taken the Kaplan course myself. What I found to be useful was taking a large number of practice tests. The practice questions were of inconsistent quality, and I often disagreed with the Kaplan analysis of the answers. When I took the LSAT, I found the questions to be far less ambiguous than the Kaplan practice questions, unsurprisingly.</p>
<p>I had one instructor (a Stanford law student) who was very good, and another (a young lawyer who was working in the DA's office in my unremarkable hometown) who was not.</p>
<p>I thought that Kaplan oversold the value of their course. My own take is that how much "g" you were blessed with puts a ceiling on your potential score, and that preparing for the test thoroughly makes it more likely that you'll come close to hitting your ceiling. The corporate line was that these tests are completely arbitrary, and can be "beaten" if you learn the tricks that only Kaplan can teach you. I wasn't willing to drink or dispense that Kool-Aid(TM). The LSAT is designed to screen for intelligence, and does so fairly successfully, I believe.</p>
<p>Here's the most useful information I learned in my Kaplan class:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It takes less time to fill in an answer with a dull pencil than it does with a sharp one. I made sure all of my students left knowing that. </p></li>
<li><p>Remember the old saw, "read the instructions"? Standard sections of the test have standard instructions; you should know these thoroughly before you walk into the door to take the test. Then take the time to confirm that they haven't changed.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>It can't hurt to fill out an application to teach at Kaplan, but they were pretty credential conscious when I knew them, and I would guess that they still are. But don't fret if you don't get the job, or can't afford the course. You'll probably get the same results by buying a few practice books, and diligently working through them on your own.</p>
<p>D just completed the Kaplan Course and took the exam this past week-end.
As I am ALWAYS hearing negative things about Kaplan, I was concerned about the Kaplan method- I actually pushed her to do the Powerscore week-end too and we got the Powerscore "Bibles" as everyone seems to have such a negative view of Kaplan and I was concerned she wouldn't be well prepared.
Well, d assured me that all the Kaplan material was old LSAT exams (I had heard things to the contrary- but that might have been in the past).
As d is extremely disciplined, she of course went to each class - but did do ALL the homework and additional tests. </p>
<p>My guess is that Kaplan may work best for the very self directed kid-- the one that probably could do self-studying but likes a little bit of a structured environment. </p>
<p>OP-- I do not think my d would have felt too confident with a college sophomore who never took the LSAT teaching her class. Experience does matter!!</p>