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Technology: The New Way to Study?

The ongoing transformation from books to electronics is becoming viral, something more and more SAT prep companies are discovering. In the words of the director of pre-college programs at Kaplan Test Prep, "The reality is that for a lot of students, the way they study has changed." Kaplan has already begun its evolving stage into a bigger SAT prep company through its usage of technology inside and outside of the classroom.

From iTunes songs to comic books containing SAT vocabulary words, Kaplan is seeing more returns from its innovations than ever before. Their latest invention? SAT prep on the Nintendo DS. Yes, it sounds bizarre and even a bit eccentric, but Kaplan has a game in the works for kids who would rather play through their SAT prep than work in a book.

But what does this really mean for test prep services, specifically SAT prep services, that are now going to have to compete with Kaplan's rise in the e-world? Prep services will need to get creative - more user friendly ways to get kids to WANT to prepare for the SAT. Many of the SAT prep companies have migrated to the internet (or even started there, like INAP) in hopes to capture the tech-friendly youth that has become the ideal SAT demographic.

Yet now, with the rise of computers and technology and the demise of the classic, paper-filled books, SAT prep services may begin to see a rise in profits. As prep companies' physical materials slowly fade away and the ability to add small "cash-per-click" advertisements in corners of the webpages prove to be beneficial, outputs go down and inputs go up. No more printing pages or four inch thick books, just a simple URL for a student to enter to begin studying for the SAT. But with all of these changes occurring in the market of SAT prep, what are the real setbacks?

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Evan Kendall
INeedAPencil Summer Associate
Sharon High School 2010 (Sharon, MA)

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