Kaplan's SAT Online Prep
© 2006 Kaplan, Inc.
Part of the Washington Post Company, Kaplan's SAT Online Test Preparation provided our testers with a well-designed but expensive service that was easy to use, compared with ten other online test prep services. Two high school students tested the service during the summer months of 2005 as part of a project sponsored by Consumer Reports Consumer WebWatch, and reported it to be effective in combining smart tutorial features with a clean interface. SAT Online Prep is just one of a variety of services for sale at kaptest.com. The service is marred by a confusing registration process that includes a rather sneaky "spring loaded" registration form, where a forgotten field results in opting into "receiving promotional offers from Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions on behalf of its affiliate partners." After some initial trouble finding the Login page, students were able to sign in and take a "course introduction" section of the site. The features are clearly explained, both by reading and by audio. The first step is to take a diagnostic exam. Based on your performance, a personal calendar is setup for you that includes time lines and a recommended study plan based on an anticipated SAT test date. Unlike the College Board service, the planning calendar is filled in, and students are told what they need to do and when. The service provides comprehensive progress tracking, using roll-over graphics and color bars. Students liked the extra hand holding when they needed it. Kaplan's was the only service to provide remedial lessons recommended according to students' individual needs. Lowest scores are worked on first, "for fastest score gain." Note that many of these same features can be found in the lower cost ($20) CD-based version. After answering each question, students are provided with immediate feedback on their answer, shown the correct procedure if needed, in step-by-step fashion. This level of detail made Kaplan's service the best-liked among our testers. Other features include the ability to design personalized practice quizzes, and the ability to turn audio on or off. A set of flash cards is available for vocabulary work. Testers noted that the math section seemed harder than the actual test. One of our Kaplan testers, had her identical twin (with nearly identical first SAT scores of 1220 and 1260) sitting next to her, taking the similarly priced Princeton Review service. After five days of testing, both agreed that while The Princeton Review was very useful and well designed, Kaplan's provided a better overall test preparation service. Our second Kaplan's tester also rated the service "way better than Number2.com." Missing is an essay grading feature. Kaplan's SAT Online Test Prep is run by a known company, with functional email and telephone contact numbers. Refund and guarantees are defined (Kaplan uses a higher score or money back) although you are required to print out the guarantee to understand how it works. Kaplan seems to make every effort to harvest a student's email address by "spring loading" a rather complex registration page so that any missing field will result in the re-population of three radio buttons that must be checked in order to give Kaplan permission to share student information with promotions. As we learned with The Princeton Review, this oversight can lead a student within one click of giving a social security number to the armed services, or receiving a stream of offers from student loan services. Kaplan's registration process is a good reminder to stay alert when filling out registration forms.
$399.006, Windows XP, Internet Exploror
Teaches: SAT Test Preparation
CTR Rating: 87.5%