Peterson's, founded in 1966, is an American company that has a wide range of print and digital products and services, including

test preparation Test preparation (abbreviated test prep) or exam preparation is an educational course, tutoring service, educational material, or a learning tool designed to increase students' performance on standardized tests. Examples of these tests include en ...

, career exploration tools, memory retention techniques, and school, financial aid, and scholarship searches. Peterson's is currently headquartered in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. It was formerly headquartered for many years in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. Peterson's was privately held until its 1995 purchase by

The Thomson Corporation The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organisation Ltd (ITOL) and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to form ...

. It became part of Thomson Learning (spun off in 2007 as

Cengage Learning Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...

). On July 27, 2006, Peterson's was acquired by the

Nelnet Nelnet, Inc., is a United States-based conglomerate that deals in the administration and repayment of student loans and education financial services. The company is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. The company provides a range of products t ...

family of companies. On December 31, 2017 Peterson's was acquired by Triangle Digital Ventures. In 2019, Peterson's acquired

B.E.S. Publishing B.E.S. Publishing is an American publishing company, founded in 1939 as Barron's Educational Services, a publisher of materials to help students to prepare for college entrance examinations. In recent years, Barron's expanded into many other publi ...

Acquired and child companies

Peterson's has acquired several companies in the educational space, includin
Peterson's Velocity
(formerly Mind Streams) in 2016, and th
Dean Vaughn Total Retention System
in 2015.

Test prep offerings

Peterson's test preparation products include online courses and practice tests, as well as printed study guides. They cover a wide range of topics including

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

, ACT, PSAT, AP Exams,

College Level Examination Program The College Level Examination Program is a group of standardized tests created and administered by the College Board. These tests assess college-level knowledge in thirty-six subject areas and provide a mechanism for earning college credits wi ...

(CLEP),

Test of English as a Foreign Language Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL ) is a standardized test to measure the English language ability of non-native speakers wishing to enroll in English-speaking universities. The test is accepted by more than 11,000 universities a ...

(TOEFL),

Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is a multiple choice test, administered by the United States Military Entrance Processing Command, used to determine qualification for enlistment in the United States Armed Forces. It is of ...

(ASVAB), civil service, nursing, EMT, postal service, caseworker, law enforcement, and more. They also offer several free and paid practice tests on their website. Peterson's online courses for the SAT, ACT, ASVAB and Accuplacer and feature a pre-test that determines each user's strengths and weaknesses. Based on diagnostic results, the lessons in the course are personalized to focus on the material that requires the most improvement.

Civil service and military

Civil Service test prep study books include, publications for

Case Worker Exam Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to ca ...

Civil Service Exams Civil may refer to: * Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights * Civil disobedience *Civil engineering * Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a m ...

, Firefighter Exam, Emergency Dispatcher/911 Operator Exam,

EMT Basic Certification EMT may refer to: Arts and entertainment * E.M.T. (music group) Health and medicine * Emergency medical technician * Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (or transformation) * Extraneuronal monoamine transporter Science and technology * Ecolo ...

Law Enforcement Exams Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

, and the

U S. Postal Service Test 470 U or u, is the twenty-first and sixth-to-last Letter (alphabet), letter and fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide ...

. These Peterson's book publications contain several practice tests and course outlines. Peterson's has negotiated contracts with the U.S. Military to offer individualized portals for enlisted

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

personnel. Online test prep is available for the

ASVAB The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is a multiple choice test, administered by the United States Military Entrance Processing Command, used to determine qualification for enlistment in the United States Armed Forces. It is ...

, as well as various college readiness exams.

References

External links

Peterson's Consumer Website
{{Authority control Companies based in Colorado Education companies established in 1966 Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Test preparation companies 1966 establishments in New Jersey