Coaching Firm Ordered to Stop Using SAT Questions

A firm that prepares students for the Scholastic Aptitude Test cannot use confidential test questions in its coaching program until a lawsuit by a national testing service is resolved, a federal judge ruled today.

U.S. District Judge Clarkson S. Fisher also ordered employees of Princeton Review to refrain from registering for or taking exams sponsored by the Education Testing Service. The exams are used to determine whether students are admitted to some colleges.

Education Testing Service sought the injunction against the coaching firm. The testing service said Princeton Review and its founder, John Katzman, improperly obtained questions from copyrighted tests and used them to help clients improve their scores.

“The fall, 1985, testing process, which is currently under way, would be severely disrupted by premature disclosure of secure test questions,” Fisher wrote in granting the injunction.

“Such disclosure could result in invalidation of certain test scores and thereby undermine the integrity and reputation of ETS and its tests in the eyes of colleges and students.”

The testing service contends that Katzman violated a 1983 agreement and copyright laws by giving unauthorized copies of test materials to his clients. The service also alleged that Katzman had students and employees take Education Testing Service-sponsored exams to learn about the questions.

Fisher said that, based on information provided him at a hearing Wednesday, “it appears that ETS is likely to prevail on the merits of its copyright and contract claims.”

Katzman’s firm says it increases clients’ scores by about 150 points with an eight-week course that costs $495.