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The owner of the SAT and PSAT exams sued a Dallas-area test-preparation company Wednesday, accusing it of trying to give its customers an unfair edge on the tests by illegally obtaining "live" copies to help students practice.</p>
<p>The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges that the Karen Dillard College Prep company got a copy of the PSAT administered last October from a Plano, Texas, high school principal whose brother works at the company.</p>
<p>The lawsuit brought by the New York-based College Board, alleging copyright infringement, could bring attention to the burgeoning test-prep industry, which some critics contend gives well-off students an unfair advantage on entrance exams.
<p>Yeah, I was pretty floored to hear this morning that Karen Dillard had been sued by the College Board for giving students an unfair advantage on the PSAT....especially given my earlier rants that my $1299 payment for the couse and scores of hours my son had spent at KD had increased his score a grand total of 2 points! (I think I had posted earlier that he only increased by 1 point but it was actually 2.) Let's see...that's $649.50 per point.</p>
<p>Now I'm intrigued....is it all false, or did they try to help my son cheat but he was too dense to catch on?</p>
<p>This morning the folks at KD are probably searching for my angry email to them about his score not improving, so they can use it as evidence!</p>
<p>The suit really puts the company in a bad spot...if all the scores were like my son's and they DIDN'T improve, that helps them on the college board lawsuit, but hurts them with the consuming public.</p>
<p>By the way, my son is still going there for math. His SAT math score did improve quite a bit over the course of his practice tests, so he'll go until the March 1st SAT. His verbal scores went down, so I'm telling him to forget eveything he "learned" at KD for the CR part.</p>
<p>Just read the cnn.com article. If my son's scores are cancelled and he wasn't going to be commended or a NMSF anyway, I guess it's just a wash, right? Colleges don't ask for your PSAT scores on apps do they?</p>
<p>Pretty ironic....if my son would have received the boost in points that Karen Dillard promised, he would be in NMSF territory, and then I'd be worried sick that he'd lose it.</p>
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<p>This morning the folks at KD are probably searching for my angry email to them about his score not improving, so they can use it as evidence!<<</p>
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<p>My CC laugh of the day! I can always count on the parents forum!</p>
<p>In reading the article, I am confused at what the big deal is about the PSAT. The kids are allowed to take the booklets home at our school with their results. It isn't like the SAT, whose booklets are collected at the end of the test.</p>
<p>You don't need to get the booklet from a principal whose brother works for the printing company. Just get it from any high schooler who took the test in Oct.</p>
<p>It is obvious that there must be more to the lawsuit than the "disclosure" of a current PSAT. However, one has to wonder why The College Board decided to focus on a rather innocuous domestic operation instead of following on the multiple security breaks and reports of rampant organized cheating in Asia.</p>
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<p>It is obvious that there must be more to the lawsuit than the "disclosure" of a current PSAT.<<</p>
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<p>I wish they'd tell us what then. College Board's big problem seems to be that the KD printed the questions from the October test as part of their materials for their current clients. CB hasn't officially "released" the test for use by commercial entities and thus the questions are still considered "live", usable on future tests.</p>
<p>But why would you reuse questions from a test that is already in the hands of the public?</p>
<p>If the PSAT weren't used as the National Merit screening test, why would any of this matter.</p>
<p>What seems to be going on is that since CB is in the test prep business now, it is trying to hobble the competition.</p>
<p>Yes you can and so the ruling in this lawsuit is going to be very interesting. I am thinking that the commercial nature of the use is one of the factors irking College Board. The October '07 booklet is on sale at the CB store so how is the test "live"?</p>
<p>Okay, I admit that I'm worried now. It's supposedly a copyright infringement lawsuit, yet the headline in yesterday's paper was "STUDENT'S SCORES MAY BE CANCELLED." The College Board is saying that they may cancel not only PSAT scores but SAT scores as well. If so, how would your student ever not be tainted and safe to take the SAT again?</p>
<p>Can the CB cancel thousands of scores without legal process? If the lawsuit has to run its course, I'm not worried, because my son could be out of college before it is concluded. But could they decide-at same random time-to just cancel scores without legal process?</p>
<p>I have to decide whether to send my son to KD today. If I do, will anyone else be there? THE SAT is next Saturday.</p>
<p>I think Karen's business is already ruined. Who would sign their child up for a program with the threat of "cancelled scores" out there? The power of one lawsuit, even if baseless.....</p>
<p>Why just this PSAT SAT review company? Kaplan and Princeton Review have been doing the same thing for years. Is it because this company is a David versus the the Kaplan - Princeton Review Goliaths?</p>
<p>Exactly, UnivMom...sue the pants off of a person who doesn't have the $$ to fight you, extract a settlement or a judgment, and then use it to get more $$ from the big boys. I wonder if Kaplan and Princeton Review pay College Board $$ for a license for the test material/questions that they use. Or do they come up with their own "questions?"</p>
<p>FYI - Kaplan is a subsidiary of the Washington Post, so my guess is that they have a binding agreement with the College Board.</p>
<p>Additionally, the College Board is very powerful now that they are in possession of so many college students' families personal financial information as well.</p>
<p>CSS Financial Aid PROFILE
The PROFILE form is administered by the College Scholarship Service (CSS), the financial aid division of the College Board. The CSS PROFILE is required by many private colleges and universities to determine your eligibility for non-government financial aid, such as the institution's own grants, loans and scholarships. </p>
<p>Very interesting. Still looking for interwining business relationships between the three.</p>
<p>Guys, do you have any comprehension of the fact that this doesn't apply to normal test-prep companies? </p>
<p>This specific prep involved trying to get "live" questions that would actually be on the upcoming test, not using prep. What you guys are doing is like comparing a student who studies calculus to do well on a Calculus test with a student who obtains an answer sheet for the test in order to do well on it.</p>
<p>The Kaplan course uses actual questions as well. They just mix them up and produce their own "test booklets" using actual questions. What is the difference? I have a low opinion of CB anyway. Has anyone actually tried to call and get an answer to a question from these people? THey are the most vague people I have ever dealt with!</p>