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Monday, May 17, 2010

SAT prep company stops claiming 255-point boost - Boston.com

SAT prep company stops claiming 255-point boost - Boston.com

SAT prep company stops claiming 255-point boost

This undated photo provided by George Lange for The College Board shows high school students in a classroom at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J. With competition to get into top colleges ever-stiffer, and kids with SAT scores well into the 700s finding themselves rejected not just by Ivy League schools but also by well-known colleges all over the country, you might think most high school students these days are getting scores in the stratosphere.This undated photo provided by George Lange for The College Board shows high school students in a classroom at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J. With competition to get into top colleges ever-stiffer, and kids with SAT scores well into the 700s finding themselves rejected not just by Ivy League schools but also by well-known colleges all over the country, you might think most high school students these days are getting scores in the stratosphere. (AP Photo/The College Board, George Lange)
By Beth J. Harpaz
Associated Press Writer / May 17, 2010
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NEW YORK—Why don't most students' SAT scores dramatically improve the more times they take the test?
Discuss
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A. They don't study hard enough.
B. Their parents don't enroll them in fancy test-prep classes.
C. Most kids who take the SAT twice simply do not see large improvements in their scores.
The correct answer is C, according to the College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers the SATs. And here's the latest development in the debate over whether kids can dramatically improve their scores: The Princeton Review company no longer claims that its "Ultimate Classroom" SAT test-preparation course can boost SAT scores by 255 points.
The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which examines accuracy in advertising, announced May 12 that The Princeton Review would "voluntarily discontinue certain advertising claims . following a challenge by Kaplan, Inc., a competing test-preparation service."
High school students and their parents are often bombarded with SAT test-prep