The difficult decision of whether or not to attend a culinary school can often be aided by participation in a cooking class. Don’t get the idea that one of these classes is the equivalent of taking a course at a cooking school; however, the right type of cooking class will allow you to approximate such a course.

See what type of cooking class is right for you.

To get the biggest bang for your buck, make sure any cooking class you take is taught by a professional instructor or working chef. To do this, your best course is often to look for classes at your local culinary school. Most people will be able to easily drive to a reputable school.

Day-long classes aren’t going to cut it for our purposes. Rather, you need to look for a cooking class that meets at least twice in one week, preferably three times. Long classes like this are what you’re going to find if you choose to attend cooking school. Try to find a class in an area of cooking with which you’re not very familiar. This is a cheap way of simulating the pressure you’ll face in a professional course. By no means is this approaching the intensity of a full-time culinary curriculum, but it should be enough for you to approximate the same feeling.

Attending a cooking class can act as a minor barometer to your possibility of success in a professional situation. You could also talk to owners of commercial kitchens in your area about volunteering or working there for a while. Universities, hospitals and government buildings all have commercial kitchens, as do restaurants and hotels. Taken together, these two activities should form a firm basis upon which you can decide whether or not to pursue a culinary arts career.