<p>or so CB says. According to them, sat scores, on average only go up ~20 points in each section. Yet the company offers a comprehensive online course?? CB is full of crap</p>
<p>Online courses don’t have to improve your scores for them to offer them. People are going to be willing to pay for them regardless of whether they actually work, because there’s tons of people who think that spending thousands of dollars on prepping for the SAT and ACT is actually worth it.</p>
<p>CB is obsessed with generating revenue (which allows it to pay higher salaries even though it’s <em>technically</em> a non-profit, but is really a non-profit acting like a for-profit), so even if they’re selling you something entirely useless, they’ll do it.</p>
<p>For example, CB will let you pay to rush an electronic submission of scores. That’s <em>entirely</em> pointless and probably makes the scores get there a few hours sooner (if that). Yet, they’ll still sell it to you, because some people will buy it and thus they’ve earned some extra revenue.</p>
<p>I partially agree with what RedSeven says…
However, you must keep in mind that what CB says is a broad generalization based on avarages. In other words, it doesn’t mean u can’t improve your scores by a huge amount; it just means most students don’t. The online course can actually help, and so can other products that CB sells (such as the BB, as almost everyone here on CC attest).
I’m not saying it’s worthy (I’ve actually never bought it), just that it can be…</p>
<p>My statistics professor told us: “Statistics are like a bikini. What is revealed is interesting; what is concealed is vital.” </p>
<p>The average of 20 points per section conceals vital information such as the point of the initial score, e.g. 650 vs. 780 and the particular interventions e.g. nothing, online prep, group prep or private tutor. </p>
<p>Would agree with you that CB speaks out of both sides of their mouth. Let us not forget that they are in the business to make money.</p>
<p>Scores can be improved for those who are motivated. Countless threads here on CC give lots of ideas.</p>