• Try Free
• Buy Now
• Log In

Ultimate Test Experts

We Built the Test

Knewton VP of Research David Kuntz has been involved in every aspect of the large-scale educational assessment business over the span of a twenty-year career, holding senior positions at both LSAC and ETS. Among many other activities, he led the College Board's first foray into interactive test prep software, entitled "One-on-one With The SAT." David created the first automated test assembly algorithm and system for the current LSAT, the first web-based computer-adaptive test delivery system, the first online AP practice program using real AP graders, and the first large-scale web-based portfolio scoring and management system. He has been awarded four assessment-related patents, with a fifth patent pending.

Len Swanson spent 35 years at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) developing tests like the SAT, GRE, and GMAT. He served as executive director of technology for ETS and developed the computerized versions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and the Praxis Assessment Series for teacher licensure. He holds more patents in adaptive testing than anyone else who has ever lived.

We Wrote the Book

Knewton CEO Jose Ferreira was an executive at the nation's largest test prep firm, where he led a company-wide re-engineering effort that designed their courses. He built Knewton from the ground up to include every feature he couldn't include in traditional brick-and-mortar courses. Jose has personally designed Knewton's test prep curriculum, and he's cooked up all-new strategies students won't find anywhere else. Catch him in action—he still teaches classes for each test.

At Knewton, Jose has assembled the most talented test prep experts he has ever worked with, including Ed Downey and Doug Pierce who, like Jose, are both published authors of test prep books.

We "Broke the Code"

Jose "broke the code" on the GRE exam by inventing a foolproof strategy for one question type. ETS took the extraordinary step of removing the question type from its exams. Their reason? Jose "broke the code and published it, so we are removing the questions from the test." It is the only time ETS has ever removed a section from one of its exams due to the effectiveness a test-taking strategy.

Next, Jose reverse-engineered ETS's computer test-scoring algorithm, teaching students to skip the last questions in each section and use that extra time on the first questions. ETS was forced to revise the scoring system. Jose also proved that early computerized tests were highly susceptible to cheating, forcing ETS to suspend its tests for months to improve them. According to Len Swanson, "Jose is the only person ever to force ETS to fundamentally redesign their tests."

Why all the effort? Because Jose is passionate about the design and structure of tests. By teaching students to think about structure in the same way, he gives them unprecedented tools to improve their scores.