Choosing a review center is almost as important as picking out your college of choice. It’s the review center that helps you get over that last hurdle in your professional career – the Licensure Exam. It doesn’t matter if you’re reviewing for the NLE or for the NCLEX, CGFNS or IELTS. You still need to find a reliable and credible review center.

Picking out the best review center can be like choosing the best contestant among hundreds. Say that you are the head judge. You have the final say on who is going to win. Surely, you won’t be choosing a contestant randomly. There has to be category that you pit the contenders against. The one who excels in a majority, if not all of the categories will be the winner. It’s the same thing when choosing a review center. There has to be a category that you can base your decisions on.

Below are a few categories that you should consider when picking out the best review center:

Past Performance

A review center’s past performance or its’ track record should be one of the very first things you consider. The track record will show you the center’s success rate. Good review centers should always have a success rate of 80% or more. Track records aren’t that difficult to find. Review centers often flaunt their accomplishments. Some of them display larger-than-life banners outside their headquarters. They enumerate how many of their reviewers made it to the top list of passers. It may all be impressive, but try looking past this. Talk to center managers and get an idea of how they fared in the past five years or so. They may have done excellently with the last exam, but who knows how they did a year or two ago.

Teaching Module

The teaching module or methods of review is an integral part of a review center. It’s these methods that help students learn and retain information. Get an idea of how good a center’s teaching methods are from past reviewers. You can also ask center heads for a summary of what they are going to be teaching throughout the duration of the review.

The Final Coaching

The final coaching is a very important part of the review process. Some people even choose to review during the final coaching alone. Ask center heads what teaching methods will be used for the final coaching - a majority of review centers use ‘rationalization’ methods. It is also advised that you find out where the final coaching will take place. Scout it out – if possible – to see how comfortable it’s going to be. You will be spending long hours of sitting in these venues. They need to be comfortable so that you can focus on the task at hand.

Reviewer Instructor

The instructor is as important as the classes that they lead. Fact is that, students learn more from a reviewer who manages to hold their attention for hours on end. As compared to someone who bores his/her listener within the first 5 minutes. A great reviewer is a rare commodity for review centers. That is why they clamor over excellent reviewers and try to coax them in teaching classes. When you’re choosing a review center, check out their list of reviewers. Ask former reviewees on their feedbacks. Go for the review center with the best list of reviewers. Most of the time, review centers with a great track record and an impressive teaching module also have the best reviewers in town.

Cost and Value for Your Money

Review costs can be staggering. Some review centers demand upwards of PHP 15,000/student. That doesn’t even include the final coaching fee which can cost up to PHP 5,000 or more. That is why you need to pick out a review center that packs the most bang for your buck. It doesn’t necessarily follow that the most expensive center is the best center. No, some moderately priced centers can also deliver a great review. It is also important to look at what you are getting for what you pay. Some centers have a higher fee because it already includes certain review materials. Total the whole cost of review before you decide on one particular center.

Credibility

So many review centers went under fire during the June 2006 NLE ‘leakage’ fiasco. It led to court cases where reviewees pitted themselves against review centers, the PRC and vice versa. For certain, no one wants a repeat of that event. That is why you need to check your center’s credibility. Look into their history and see if they have any law suits against them. Why is this important? It is important because the right review center can mean the difference between re-taking the exams or not.

Feedback

Getting feedback is very important when choosing review centers. No matter how pristine a center may sound in their ads, they are still bound to have skeletons in their closets. That is why you need to seek feedback from former reviewees. Ask them what they thought of the review process and whether or not they will recommend the center to you.