Students interested in taking the Graduate Record Examination on Oct. 9 can get a head start studying by taking the review session which begins Saturday.

The price for this review session is $195 for NIU students and $279 for non-students.

Steve Johnson, director of external programming for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said the price is the best around. “A student can get just as much from our course, rather than paying $695 for review courses offered by such places as BAR/BRI and Princeton Review,” Johnson said.

Johnson said there is another plus, besides the low price. It is that the class is offered in the Holmes Student Center Ballroom and students do not have to travel to the suburbs or Chicago to take the class.

Andrea Horst, M.S.Ed., has taught the course since it began at NIU seven years ago. Horst said the class covers verbal, math and analytical reasoning.

“Most students tend to need the math review the most,” she said. Because of this need Horst said she spends six hours of the 16 hour class on math skills and four on each the verbal and analytical reasoning.

Horst said she feels this class is beneficial to the students who take it because not only do they learn strategies to attack problems but learn time management as well.

Johnson recommends for students to take the test in their junior year so they will have a chance to retake it if necessary. “Many of the students taking the review session are taking the test for the second time,” Johnson said.

Karen Flowers, M.A. in journalism, took the review session a few years ago and said she feels it was a big help.

Flowers advises people to buy the practice booklets when taking the class. “Nothing could have helped me more,” Flowers said.

The review session will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the following days: Sept. 11, 18, 25 and Oct. 2.

Review sessions will also be offered on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at NIU’s Hoffman Estates Center. For more information call Steve Johnson at 753-5200.