Laid Back but Learning

Teacher Nate Aiman-Smith, in a T-shirt and jeans, lectured cross-legged from his perch atop a desk.

He taught the class a sneaky strategy: how to solve math problems without having to do much math.

“It’s a cheap trick, but if it gets you a point, it gets you a point,” he explained to the class. “Is that cool to everybody?”

His five high school students said, “Yeah.”

If this sounds like unusual classroom banter, that’s because it’s supposed to be.

Aiman-Smith, 23, is a teacher for the Princeton Review, a program that prepares students to take college admissions tests. The program guarantees that it will increase each student’s score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test by at least 100 points--out of a possible 1600--by the end of the four-week course. If you don’t hit that mark, you can take the course again at no additional cost.

“We try to make it very clear that we’re not high school teachers,” Aiman-Smith said. “It’s not high school. It’s fun.”

Aiman-Smith, along with instructor Jill Fischer, teaches the SAT summer prep course at St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura. Fischer explained that the company’s program directors tend to hire “laid-back, fun, enthusiastic” people who also scored well on the tests they are hired to teach.

Neither instructor has a conventional teaching credential. In fact, both were music majors in college. The program hires for personality, then provides a training regimen, according to program director Kyle Mackey.

During teacher training, Fischer said, the staff was encouraged to loosen up, walk around while lecturing and not get stuck behind a podium.

“If it’s not entertaining, they’re going to be bored to death. We have to make it fun for them,” she said.

Students from any area school can take the course, which will be offered again in a session starting Aug. 23.

But success is not cheap. The 42 hours of instruction cost $745. And private tutoring costs $1,045 for 18 hours.

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The price includes classroom time, additional help, textbooks and diagnostic tests, including a book with eight SATs from previous years.

Many clients think that it’s worth the expense.

“My parents forced me to take it,” said Elaina Viola, 17, who will be a senior at St. Bonaventure in the fall. “But it was a good idea.”

Elaina’s score climbed from 1180 to 1280 after she took the class. She said the improvement could make the difference on whether she gets into USC in the spring.

Nationwide Education Services in Ventura offers a less expensive prep course option. Its five-session program in either math or verbal skills costs $199, or $399 for both. Classes last two hours and include texts. Sessions are scheduled to begin Aug. 30 and Sept. 27.

Even cheaper are SAT classes run by Ventura County’s community colleges. Ventura College offers a three-day course in either math or verbal skills for $59, including texts. The first session will be held Aug. 4 to 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Students can take both subjects for $94.

Oxnard College offers a similar course for $45 per subject, $80 for both. A mandatory $17 textbook is not included. The session runs Aug. 11 to 14, with English from 9 a.m. to noon and math from 12:30 to 3 p.m.

Both colleges are currently enrolling.

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For many college-bound students, however, the cost of taking a prep course is just too much. For them, most bookstores offer affordable alternatives.

Test-prep texts and computer programs range from $15 to $45. Most are published by companies such as the Princeton Review, using the same principles taught in the classroom courses.

The disadvantage, Fischer said, is that books and software do not offer the benefit of students having their strengths and weaknesses analyzed and pointed out to them. But for those who simply can’t afford the extra cost, she said, they are a decent option.

Low-income students--along with kids who are among the first generation in their family to head for college--are eligible to enroll in a free SAT prep course run through the federally funded Upward Bound program at UC Santa Barbara.

Aiman-Smith and Fischer teach this course in addition to their Princeton Review classes. Fischer said the program gives disadvantaged students a chance to compete with their peers who have more financial and family support.

Classes for this summer are already full, but students can ask their school counselors or call Upward Bound directly for information on future sessions.

FYI

For information on SAT review courses, call:

* Princeton Review: 685-2221.

* Princeton Review (in Thousand Oaks only): (310) 474-0909.

* Nationwide Education Services: 644-3579.

* Ventura College: 654-6459.

* Oxnard College: 986-5822.

* Upward Bound: 893-3515.