Curvebreakers’ owner Nicholas LaPoma was quoted in an article published on October 7th, 2025 by The Wall Street Journal about the pressures of high school admissions testing.
The article follows two parents who hired a Brooklyn-based consultant to help their son through the high school admissions process, which has become extremely competitive with some families spending thousands to gain an edge. The consultant assists with strategizing course selection, crafting extracurricular portfolios, preparing applications, and providing inside knowledge of what selective programs look for.
According to The Wall Street Journal:
Test prep has also become bespoke. Nicholas LaPoma, founder of the Long Island-based test prep company Curvebreakers, said that when he started as a test prep tutor during law school in Manhattan in 2011, it was “straight-forward.” They taught strategies, evaluated their students’ weaknesses over several weeks and then focused on where to improve.
Now testing software and AI offers targeted diagnostics in minutes after taking a practice test online. The contrast LaPoma sees between then and now is stark.
Said LaPoma, “We knew it was important then, but it didn’t seem to be the wild pressure cooker situation it is now.”
Read the full article on wsj.com.