<p>al6200--if what KD was actually doing was trying to get the actual Oct PSAT test before it was given and then prepping their students off of it, I would agree with you. But my reading of the article doesn't support your scenario.</p>
<p>"Karen Dillard said the College Board approached her four months ago about questions she had distributed after buying them from the organization, thinking she could copy them for educational purposes.</p>
<p>She said she stopped distributing those questions after that. She denied she had ever used "live" tests — exams the College Board has not officially "retired" and are not supposed to circulate.</p>
<p>According to the lawsuit, executive director Matthew Novotny obtained a copy of the PSAT administered Oct. 17 from his brother, Michael Novotny, the principal of T.C. Jasper High School in Plano. The PSAT is generally taken by younger students as practice for the SAT, though it is used to select National Merit Scholarship recipients.</p>
<p>Dillard denied wrongdoing, saying the exam was sent to the company unsolicited and was never provided to students. She called any suggestion of unfairness absurd because PSAT exam books are released anyway."</p>
<p>"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>Kaplan, PR, and many others "develop" synthetic questions. Unfortunately, the lack of quality and relevance make those questions very close to worthless. The reality is that the optimum --if the only-- manner to prepare for the SAT is to utilize the released questions. </p>
<p>ETS and The College Board have been ambivalent about how and when to release the past questions. Inasmuch as they USED to offer all QAS (released tests' booklets) for a fee of $4.00, they stopped the practice a few years ago. As it stands today, only the test taker can purchase his or her own exam (on certain dates.) The organization does, however, sell the Blue Book and an online course. One issue is that they have not updated very much their contents and this has led astute testtakers to fish for more released tests. </p>
<p>It is obvious that ETS/TCB has to work much harder to introduce an non-ending supply of new questions when they release (and retire) questions more often. In fact, they have reused past portions of non-released tests in more than one occasion. This HAS given an advantage to students who have had the benefit of companies that do scrutinize the tests and use LEGAL methods to develop databases of questions. This represents, however, an extremely small fraction of the SAT universe. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, the case against Karen Dillard will either be about a lot more than was disclosed or merely about attempting to stop the rather simplistic photocopying and distribution of copyrighted material. </p>
<p>Fwiw, I believe that ETS/TCB seems to have brought on people who are trigger-happy and do not necessarily understand their own product very well. The declaration by the ETS/TCB representative was, in my opinion, theatrical.</p>
<p>Not sure how live these PSAT questions are. The booklet was given to both of my daughters when the test result sheets are returned in December. I suspect the larger companies are paying royalties and user fees per student and that is why they aren't being sued for copyright infringement. Not to mention that they are fairly large and have clout themselves.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The Kaplan course uses actual questions as well. They just mix them up and produce their own "test booklets" using actual questions.
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</p>
<p>That is totally incorrect. Their own booklets do NOT contain any actual questions as that would be a direct copyright violation. The only actual questions Kaplan, PR, and their ilk can legally use are questions purchased directly from The College Board, and those cannot be mixed and matched with adulterated questions.</p>
<p>Again, there is a reason why the questions produced by Kaplan or Princeton Review are of such poor quality.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Kaplan, PR, and many others "develop" synthetic questions. Unfortunately, the lack of quality and relevance make those questions very close to worthless.<<</p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>Which is why I put "questions" in quotes. That was my opinion of them also.</p>
<p>I think CB put out the Blue Book because they saw the popularity of the Real SAT Tests series.</p>
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<p>Not sure how live these PSAT questions are.<<</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>"Live" means only that the test questions haven't been officially "retired" and MAY show up on another test. The fact that the booklets are disseminated to every kid who took the test is one reason that KD says that CB is being absurd.</p>
<p>Yes, LMNOP, the Blue Book is the direct successor of the original White Book (5 and 8 Real Tests) and the Red Book (10 Real SAT).</p>
<p>Those books are the must have books. They also remain widely available and the most affordable. Fwiw, the same can be said for the TCB online course, whcih compared to any other courses is a bargain. </p>
<p>Why a reputable preparation company would decide to venture outside the legally available material is a mystery to me. Of course, the success of some company hinges directly --or exclusively-- on the unspoken "publicity" that their owners have access to "secret" or "pirated" versions. Since this case was brought forward on the words of a whistleblower, one might assume that The College Board also relied on the "word on the street" in Dallas to verify the allegations. </p>
<p>In my opinion, it's not a great surprise that Karen Dillard finds herself in a federal courthouse to defend her practices. If there was a court for hiding ineffective preparation and misleading clients, they'd have to sell seats!</p>
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<p>the unspoken "publicity" that their owners have access to "secret" or "pirated" versions<<</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>So this may be the "something else going on" that neither CB nor KD is talking about? Because the flap about disseminating questions from the Oct 2007 PSAT test in their prep materials does seem absurd to me.</p>
<p>If there was "word on the street" that they had "live" questions, I don't know of anyone who would have enrolled their kids there. Seriously. OUr city isn't terribly "Ivy Bound" and I really don't know a soul who would try to cheat the system to gain an advantage.</p>
<p>The idea of being able to "cheat" on the SAT or PSAT is intriguing to me. You'd have to take the live test, have it scored, and then STUDY what you did wrong and learn the right answers. That is essentially what the test prep courses do anyway....you take a practice test, they score it, they tell you what you did wrong, then you're supposed to study that type of question/problem so you don't get it wrong again. It sounds like it would take the identical amount of effort to "cheat" (live questions) as it would to do well by following a legit test prep course with made up questions.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The College Board has filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement involving other materials. As part of our preparation, we have purchased some tests from College Board. They stopped selling those tests in 2005. We assumed we had a right to continue using the material we had bought and paid for. While we continue to believe we had that right, we immediately stopped using those materials once The College Board brought this to our attention four months ago. </p>
<p>Q: Which practice tests can I take?
A: Karen Dillard's College Prep provides real College Board released PSATs and SATs, and American College Testing ACT tests, along with proprietary tests for practice testing.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This seems to confirm that the "other materials" are copies of the QAS that used to be offered for sale. </p>
<p>PS Missypie, while Dallas might not have reached the frenzy level of the Northeast, I think that there are very distinct circles where parents are extremely interested in maximizing PSAT and SAT circle. I am not sure how popular with parents of St Mark's, Greenhill, Southlake-Carroll (and many others) a message sharing that "our students are not exactly Ivy Bound" would be.</p>
<p>Xiggi what has been disclosed and what you have quoted from KDPC,s web pages do not square. Somebody is not being sincere. </p>
<p>Why all the brouhaha about the 2007 PSAT questions supposedly obtained from the principal? </p>
<p>Why that comment from the "theatrical" CB senior VP about parents putting their faith in expensive prep process based on STEALING their work product. </p>
<p>The comment about other materials is intriguing but the news report about the lawsuit made a definite link to the 2007 PSAT and that is something that parents whose kids prepped with KD should be worried about.</p>