Testing Assumptions

To the editors:

Your article "Test Prep Courses Stress, Cost Students" (Feature, April 7) explored an unrepresentative range of Harvard experiences. The article correctly supports the assertion by Nicholas B. Lemann '76 that test prep courses traditionally promote meritocracy. However, there are also exceptions to this tradition. Not all companies use a few rare financial aid offerings covertly. Less privileged students also have the option of using courses that seek them out. Some options, such as my $350 TestWell LSAT course, charge everyone based on financial need and allow for free repeats. Your article fails to mention that students can make more moderate choices that are between the $8 books and the $1,000 prep courses.

Also, most students do not invest extraordinary time in test prep courses simply because "everybody else is doing it." This competitive impulse contradicts the experience of most students I know, who have various backgrounds and legitimate needs to raise their scores--whether they are smart Harvard overachievers or not. Test prep does not merely defray anxiety for anxious over-achievers, as suggested, but often aptly levels the playing field for students who benefit, without emptying their wallets or hindering personal strategies.

Charisa A. Smith '00

April 18, 2000