A long record in test preparation
Test Prep America, formerly known as Test Prep Seminars, has been in business since 2001.
About Test Prep America
Test Prep Experience Since 2001.
Be Prepared, Not Surprised.
Test Prep America (formerly known as Test Prep Seminars) has been in business since 2001. The tests and technology have changed, but the job has not: help students understand what they are facing, practice deliberately, and walk into test day ready.
The model from the beginning
We Were Built for Schools.
Preparation that meets students where they already are.
Test Prep Seminars began in 2001 with a simple idea: students should not have to face an important test without understanding what is coming.
Instead of assuming every family could find a private tutor or build months of preparation around an already crowded schedule, TPS brought preparation to the places students already were—their schools.
Students learned the content, pacing, question formats, strategies, and traps they would encounter on test day. They practiced. They identified weaknesses. They left with a plan.
ContentPacingStrategyPracticeA plan
The story so far
A quarter-century of adapting.
The format kept evolving because the tests—and the students taking them—kept evolving too.
2001
Test Prep Seminars begins operating
Test Prep Seminars begins serving schools with a direct idea: students perform better when the test feels familiar before test day.
2007–2008
Preparation moves into the school day
The “Seminar During the School Day” model is in commercial use—formalizing preparation designed to reach students where they already are.
2010
School work crosses state lines
TPS is documented delivering ACT preparation to students and families in Texas, far from its Wisconsin home base.
2013–2014
Original curriculum becomes part of the system
TPS publishes proprietary ACT strategy and practice materials built around familiarity, pacing, diagnostics, deliberate practice, and anxiety reduction.
2014
More than 100 Ohio high schools
A regional education partner reports that students from more than 100 Ohio high schools had participated in TPS one-day ACT Boot Camps in a two-year period.
2015–2016
A national preparation organization
Public materials describe TPS operating nationally and serving hundreds of thousands of students. Herzing University announces a nationwide partnership spanning seminars, diagnostics, virtual learning, and educator support.
Today
The work moves forward
Test Prep America carries the experience forward through redesigned SAT and ACT programs, modern diagnostics, digital follow-up, and practical school partnerships.
Published historical signals
A record you can see.
The point is not a brag wall. It is evidence that this work was built over time, inside real school partnerships.
Ohio high schools
Reported participating in TPS Boot Camps over two years by 2014.
Students reported served
The scale reported by company and partner materials in the mid-2010s.
School reach
TPS was publicly described as a national test-preparation provider.
Historical figures reflect published company, school, and partner materials from the period.
The tools evolved. The job did not.
The Tests Changed. So Did We.
Test preparation has never stood still. Test Prep Seminars expanded beyond a single seminar format into diagnostics, Boot Camps, extensive practice materials, professional development, virtual learning, and support for the parents and educators surrounding students.
Today, that work continues through modern ACT and SAT programs, digital resources, continued practice, diagnostics, and technology designed to make preparation easier to deliver and sustain.
Technology is a tool—not the mission.
01
Printed strategy guides
02
Diagnostics
03
Live Boot Camps
04
Virtual support
05
Modern digital systems
The mission is still the student who walks into test day thinking: “I’ve seen this before. I know what to do.”
Test Prep SeminarsGet Your ACT TogetherStrategy • Pacing • Practice
Scholastic Test Prep PublishingACT Practice DrillsPractice • Diagnosis • Review
More than a motivational seminar
Built on Real Curriculum, Not Just Test-Day Tricks.
Historical TPS programs included proprietary strategy guides, practice books, diagnostics, Boot Camps, professional development, and virtual learning. The format evolved, but the philosophy was already clear: make the test understandable, identify weaknesses, practice deliberately, and leave students with a plan.
Why the delivery model matters
Serious Preparation Should Be Available to More Students.
The school-based model makes it possible to reach students across different academic backgrounds and family circumstances. We do not believe months of expensive private tutoring should be the only path to meaningful preparation.
Our job is to design programs that work inside the reality of schools and students’ lives.
Good preparation should not depend on a family’s ability to build its life around private tutoring.
Who’s carrying it forward
Different roles. One job.
Help the student in the room feel ready for what comes next.
George Swade
Program Director
Continuity, schools, and program leadership
George has helped guide the Test Prep Seminars program and its school relationships since 2008, through years of change in the ACT, SAT, and education landscape. Today, he remains a central connection to schools and districts and helps shape the student preparation experience. His focus is practical: understand what schools are up against, make preparation workable, and help students walk into test day prepared rather than surprised.
Brendan Alviani
National Operations
Making the program work at national scale
Brendan brings an educator’s perspective to operations. He studied Secondary Education and English at Vanderbilt University, has taught across more than 30 schools, and spent years building and operating businesses. At Test Prep America, those experiences come together in one job: make complex programs straightforward for schools to implement and dependable for students to experience.
Joseph Schroeder
Director of Information Technology
Building the systems behind the experience
Joseph brings experience in large-scale hosting, software development, and technical systems to the infrastructure behind the program. His job is not technology for technology’s sake; it is making the student and school experience more reliable, scalable, and useful while preserving the human instruction and school relationships at the heart of the work.
Natalie Gonzalez
Education Advocate & Regional Director
Listening to schools and building partnerships
Natalie has spent more than a decade working with schools and advocating for programs that respond to what educators actually need. Based in Texas, she brings a regional perspective to a national organization—building relationships, listening to local challenges, and helping schools move from a need to a program students can actually use.
Kevin Ritcherson
Education Advocate & Presenter
Turning preparation into connection
Kevin has presented with the program since 2011 and brings it to life in front of students. He takes a long, intimidating test, breaks it into understandable pieces, keeps a room engaged, and sends students out more confident than they came in. This is where the philosophy becomes real.
The enduring idea
Be Prepared, Not Surprised.
Preparation creates familiarity. Familiarity creates confidence. And confidence gives students a better chance to show what they actually know.
That is the work Test Prep Seminars was built to do. It is the work Test Prep America is carrying forward.