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AAMC Panel releases Report on Bioterrorism Education Lawsuit Filed Against Princeton Review Containing SARS: University of Toronto Rises to the Challenge Nanotechnology: The Science of the Very Small Innovations in Medical Education: Doctor in the Court A Word from the President: Clinical Investigators for a Global Future Viewpoint: Summer School, NIH Style
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Lawsuit Filed Against Princeton ReviewThe AAMC filed a lawsuit in March against the Princeton Review, Inc., a company whose services include preparation for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and other national standardized exams. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims that Princeton Review employees and agents improperly gained access to the test in order to memorize its questions and later assemble them into an "MCAT Tap Report," to be distributed to the firm's instructors. The AAMC alleges that the test preparation firm's actions violate the association's copyrights and constitute a misappropriation of the AAMC's trade secrets. The AAMC also claims that the Princeton Review acted fraudulently by arranging to have individuals take the exam without complying with the express commitments made by prospective MCAT examinees, which include agreements not to disclose test items. In addition to getting written notice of the AAMC's policies, examinees receive instructions from MCAT proctors before the exam that they are not to "duplicate, record, or memorize any part of the MCAT." The AAMC complaint also states that the Princeton Review MCAT "tappers" not only violated this requirement, but also falsely verified that they were taking the test in order to prepare to enroll in a health professions school - one of the requirements for taking the MCAT. "If any tapper had truthfully disclosed his or her actual reason for taking the MCAT in a request for special permission, the AAMC would have refused to allow that individual to take the MCAT," the AAMC argues. 'Tapping' concernsAAMC officials obtained a copy of the Princeton Review's tap report for the April 2002 MCAT and a copy of an e-mail, authored by the firm's director of research and development for medical programs, recruiting people to be "tappers" for the August exam. According to the AAMC complaint, the e-mail message starts with the sentence, "One more time in 2002 - I'm looking for a few good tappers for this August's MCAT." The April 2002 Tap Report is 30 pages long and resembles the structure of the April 2002 MCAT, displaying the reconstructed content of copyrighted questions from the Verbal Reasoning, Writing Sample, Physical Sciences, and Biological Sciences sections of the test, according to the AAMC's complaint. It is not yet known whether similar "tap" reports were prepared for tests that were administered prior to April 2002. The Princeton Review filed an answer that denies most of the AAMC's primary allegations. In addition, the Princeton Review has asked the court to declare that the AAMC is "misusing" its rights under the copyright laws by trying to prevent Princeton Review representatives from taking the exam in order to gain access to the test's content. The company argues that it has "the need and the right to take our examination, to keep up-to-date on the types and format of questions asked," said Robert Jones, Ph.D., vice president of the AAMC's Division of Medical School Services and Studies. "We adamantly disagree," he added. "First, there is no need to take the actual exam to learn what is tested or how our exams are structured," Dr. Jones said. "It is our understanding that other test preparation programs, such as Kaplan, do not violate our requirement that examinees take the MCAT only for application to a health professions school - because the information we provide about the test is so complete. We make several practice tests available publicly, and our MCAT materials describe in detail the subject areas that are tested on the exam," he added. The AAMC's practice materials, a series of four full-length MCAT practice tests, are made up of items previously used in recent MCAT examinations. All four tests are available in Web format, and have been revised to reflect the content and format changes to the MCAT for 2003. - Suria Santana |
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