Are Kaplan ACT practice tests designed to be more difficult than the real ACT?

Test Preparation
1

I am beginning to study for the September ACT using Kaplan Test Prep. I just completed a practice test and I’m a little worried because I scored a 27 composite on it but, when I took the actual ACT in October 2016, I scored a 29 composite. I’ve read a few sources online that say that Princeton Review and other companies purposely make the practice tests harder so that you’re better prepared or the real test, and I’m just wondering if Kaplan is one of those companies.

For the record:
English on the real ACT was a 35, but a 32 on Kaplan. Reading was a 31 on the real ACT, but a 25 on Kaplan. Science was a 26 on the real ACT, but a 23 on Kaplan. My Math was 23 on the real ACT but increased to a 26 - the increase, I think, is due simply to having completed Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry courses since then so I know material that I hadn’t learned in the classroom until the past school year.

2

I would say that often, practice tests from non-ACT sources are harder. But a two point variation in scores is not unusual, whether it’s ACT or any other company’s version of it.