Kaplan spurs probe of Princeton Review's marketing

An insiders' debate about claims by test prep companies spilled into the open in recent days, as the Princeton Review agreed to stop trumpeting average gains for students taking tests.

The company, based in the suburbs of Boston, didn't admit any wrongdoing and added it believes the claims were accurate, but said it will no longer make the statements in its marketing campaign. Princeton Review faced a complaint from a competitor, Manhattan-based Kaplan Inc., which asked for an investigation by the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. The organization said Princeton Review's decision to stop making the claims was "necessary and appropriate."

Princeton Review, for example, claimed its "Ultimate Classroom" program boosted average scores by 255 points. Kaplan argued that such boasts were misleading because they compared the results of practice tests with real tests.

Long Island tutors and test prep companies contacted Monday said they are careful about the claims of success they make.

"I'm generally inclined to agree that gains should be measured from real test to real test," said Frank Pomilla, founder and president of TestTakers, based in Greenvale. "There's no real standard, so you run into a lot of possible ways to fudge the numbers."

Until now, Princeton Review marketing materials also touted a 206-point average gain on the GRE used for admission to many graduate schools, and a 90-point gain on the GMAT, for medical school.

The Princeton Review said Monday in a statement that its claims "are accurate and supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence."

Some local tutors said they found Princeton Review's claims reasonable. "Test preparation raises scores, in part because you learn certain tricks that speed up the way you answer questions," said Jonathan Diah, a 2006 graduate of Northport High School who is earning her bachelor's degree from Harvard University. She spends her vacation time on Long Island working as a tutor. "If you study more, you're going to do better on these tests."