STUDY GUIDES
PAUL BIRKHEAD
Everyone take out a pencil. Where’s the best place in town to get study help? If you wrote down ‘the library’, give yourself an ‘A’. The rest of you should pay attention.
I recently had the pleasure of taking a four-hour test called the GRE. GRE stands for Graduate Record Examination and it is a standardized test generally used for admissions to graduate school. When I first began studying for the exam and looked through a few sample questions, it was clear that I would need some help. As usual, Rowan Public Library came to the rescue!
Rowan Public Library has some excellent resources for those needing help studying for tests of all types. On the shelves, there are study guides for the GRE, the GED, the ACT, the SAT, the Postal Exam, the U. S. Citizenship Test, and more. Two of the study guides that helped me the most in preparing for my exam were “Cracking the GRE” by Princeton Review and “GRE/GMAT Math Workbook” by Kaplan, Inc.
Another resource Rowan Public Library offers is 24/7 access to an online learning platform called the Learning Express Library. The Learning Express Library has dozens of searchable electronic study guides so don’t worry if all the books on your subject happen to be checked out or you get the sudden urge to study after hours. Learning Express also offers hundreds of online practice tests that prepare users for several types of exams including the GRE. For younger students, there are scores of elementary school, middle school, and high school skill building tests.
To access the Learning Express Library, you’ll need a valid Rowan Public Library Card number and PIN. If you don’t have a PIN or can’t remember what it is, stop by the library and ask for a new one. Make sure you bring your card or an ID with you. You’ll get to the Learning Express through a link on our website – www.rowanpubliclibrary.org. Once at our home page, click on the ‘Online Tools’ button. Then, click on the ‘NCLive from Home’ link. Follow the instructions for obtaining the current password for NCLive. Once at the NCLive site, click on ‘Test Preparation’ under ‘Browse by Type’ and you’re almost there. Click on the Learning Express Library link and you’re in. One more caveat, first-time users will need to set up a Learning Express user name and password from a computer at the library. The reason a user account is required is that it allows the site to instantly score practice tests, record your strengths and weaknesses, and make personalized recommendations.
Whether building academic skills or studying for a particular exam, don’t forget that Rowan Public Library may just be the best study partner you’ll ever have.