Several articles over the last day have covered the news that Princeton Review has voluntarily agreed  to stop making several  of its ad claims. This move came after a review by the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which reviewed claims made in print, direct marketing, social media and Internet advertising. The division declared the Princeton Review’s actions as “necessary and appropriate” and released the decision to the public.

The review was sparked by a challenge to Princeton Review’s advertising claims by Kaplan, a competing test-prep company. Kaplan had challenged these claims, saying that they were not based on improvement from one exam to another but rather on the difference between results on an initial “diagnostic” test created and scored by Princeton Review, and students’ self-reported scores on the exam that they took after completing a Princeton Review course.  

The National Advertising Division released the decision by Princeton Review and said the claims at issue included:

MCAT:

• Our students improve their MCAT score by an average of 10 points. In fact, the top quarter of our students average 12 points improvement.
• Our students improve their scores – and we can prove it. Princeton Review Students boast an average 10 point score improvement of the MCAT. In fact, the top quarter of our students average a 12 point improvement. We don’t just make these numbers up – they are independently verified by an outside company. *

GMAT: In fact, our students improve their GMAT scores by an average of 90 points. *

GRE: Our students Improve Their GRE Scores an Average of 206 Points.

SAT: Our SAT Ultimate Classroom students average a score improvement of 255 points. *

LSAT: Our Hyperlearning LSAT students average a score improvement of 12.8* points.

Princeton Review said in a statement to the division that it was confident “our claims of average score improvement were supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.” But it agreed to discontinue the challenged score improvement claims. The National Advertising Division, the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, has no power to actually enforce its decisions, but it can send complaints to the Federal Trade Commission if a company refuses to implement its recommendations.

It’s always a good idea to ask about any advertising claims if you’re unsure about a test prep company’s assertions – they will explain the basis of the claims to you and then you can decide if those statistics are good enough for you.