<p>My parents did not hesitate to give $1000 a piece for Kaplan for me and my brother even though we were immigrants for only a few years and did not make a lot of money. It's not true that only an upper middle class family or something of that sort can afford a couple of thousand for classes.</p>
<p>Also, the tutoring was more of a precaution than "the thing that got me in". I overshot the cutoff by a lot, even though the tests i took in the class showed only marginal improvement.</p>
<p>ultimately, the cutoff seems to work incredibly well, so why change anything?</p>
<p>Actually a teacher in Stuy suggested that the test be administered to all 8th graders during the school week, which i think is a good idea, since many choose not to take it.</p>