“Coleman’s whole idea is to set the bar high, and the Philistines are coming after him for that,” he said. “I’ll be curious to see, when they release sample tests, if knocked out the five or six ‘tricks’ that built Kaplan and the Princeton Review and have formed the backbone of my industry for 30 years,” he said.īardin applauded the high standards Coleman is baking into the new SAT, and said he thought prep companies that emphasize critical thinking and argument structure would still do well. “Competition has always been good for test prep, because it establishes that test-prep is the norm, like anything else.”īut Matt Bardin, who founded and runs the boutique test prep company Veritas Tutors, said the new partnership spells trouble for the traditional prep companies. “I think this is a recognition of how important test-prep can be,” said Seppy Basili, vice president at Kaplan. Some test prep companies say they’re not alarmed. “I don’t think it’s going to go away,” he said, “but I think we can show that it’s not necessary.” As even Khan himself acknowledged, some parents will surely still hire tutors, even if it’s “just to feel better.” Not that private test-prep companies are about to go belly up. Khan Academy, a nonprofit funded by philanthropic donations, will take care of distributing the free program online. Khan is promised early access to the new SAT so its prep program will, in theory at least, be the most effective. A College Board spokesperson said no money is changing hands in the partnership.
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