Hi! I'm Lauren Gaggioli, Founder & CEO of Higher Scores Test Prep.
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the ACT and SAT prep journey, I get it!
After teaching test prep for over 12 years now, I've seen it all...
- I've worked with students who were overwhelmed, underwhelmed, and everything in between.
- I've helped crazy smart kids with learning disabilities and high-scoring hard workers give their scores the extra boost they needed.
- I've met students overcoming personal tragedy (cancer diagnoses, parents passing away, physical trauma), who were understandably behind on their college admissions journey, and helped them find their testing confidence and get to the other side of testing fast.
No matter how rocky or smooth-sailing your journey has been so far, I am beyond thrilled that you're here to discover a better, faster, less expensive way to prepare for the ACT and SAT.
Sound too good to be true? It isn't!
Here's how my family and I are changing the test prep industry for good.
We're Family Owned and Operated (and Friendly Too!)
Higher Scores Test Prep is a family-owned and operated company. And, between my mom and I, we're majority female-owned too.
Think of us as your friendly neighborhood test prep company that just happens to live on the internet.
A Higher Scores Family Selfie from Our Annual Christmas Trip to Disneyland
If you call, email, or contact us on Facebook, you'll hear back from me. With more than a decade of experience helping families through this process, I am more than happy to answer your questions as you plan your testing path. I'm also the teacher your student will work with in our on-demand online prep courses, and I'll answer any testing questions they have too!
If you take one of our online ACT prep courses or online SAT prep courses, you'll meet my dad, Bob. He's our CFO and my co-host for the free bonus workshop Cash for College that we included in every of our test prep programs to show you how to get an awesome return on your investment.
If you order one of our Complete Package programs, your books will be packed and shipped by my mom, Francine. (It's crazy how fast she gets your package to the post office!)
Our company is a family endeavor. The test prep journey is too.
At Higher Scores Test Prep, everything we create is designed to support the student who is preparing to test as well as the family who is helping their child on the journey to college.
It's our Whole Student, Whole Family support system.
Here's how it works...
We Provide Whole Student Support
A lot of students think they're just bad test takers. The thought of any exam causes their palms to prickle with sweat and their hearts to race. They've lost all hope that they can ever get better.
But even students who are typically strong testers can find themselves flummoxed by their first ACT or SAT results. They often felt great about their first testing efforts, but are completely crushed when a disappointing score arrives.
Unfortunately, most students have never dedicated any time to learning how to logically approach a multiple choice test. Some have figured it out through trial and error. Most think there is something wrong them.
But the truth is that the ACT and SAT are just like any other test in that they can be studied for and bested, but unlike any other test in that they are a little sneakier than your average in-school exam.
Getting higher ACT & SAT scores isn't just about remembering the right fact at the right time. It's also about arming students with test-specific strategies to help them boost their confidence and navigate the inherent uncertainty of these exams.
And every one of my online test prep courses does just that.
Each test prep course I teach is designed to teach students what to expect from the sneaky test makers and show them how to dodge the tricks and traps they lay. I meet students where they are and help them transform from fearful supplicant to formidable opponent on test day.
We Provide Whole Family Support
As a tutor, I was charging $250 an hour for my services and was booked to the hilt. Case in point: I drove over 11,000 in 6 months the last year I tutored full time. Insanity.
I knew that my prices were prohibitively high for the majority of people and I was getting burned out trying to meet the demand, so I wanted to find a way to share my strategies that were getting my students incredible results at a more reasonable price.
I tried hiring additional tutors but realized that I couldn't effectively pass on all that I had learned in 10+ years as a test prep tutor.
So, instead, I decided to create online courses.
By going online, I was able to reduce the 2 biggest stressors of testing:
1. the time it takes students to prepare, and
2. the cost of quality preparation for parents.
Here at Higher Scores Test Prep, I help students get their higher scores whenever it fits their busy schedule, and none of my online test prep courses costs more than 3 hours of my private tutoring rate.
But something was still missing...
When we launched The College Checklist podcast, Dad and I would debrief about all the things we could've and should've done differently in my college admissions journey.
The biggest bone we had to pick was always about money.
As we began learning more about the link between test scores and cash for college, we were thoroughly disgusted with how few of the numerous lucrative opportunities we took advantage of when I was in high school.
We had no idea they existed.
The way we see it, if you're investing in test prep as a family and your child is working hard to boost his or her scores, we should show you how to earn that investment back in free tuition money.
To that end, every test prep course I create includes the Cash for College workshop - a 1 hour course that Dad and I host together that's designed to show your family how to turn your child's test scores into free tuition money.
These tactics aren't reserved for 99th percentile scorers. All families can leverage the lessons taught in the program to earn the cost of their prep course (and much more!) back in free tuition dollars.
Since we started including it, I've had multiple students earned 5- and 6-figure awards.
We show you exactly how you can earn 1,000%+ return on your investment in every one of our test prep courses.
How cool is that?
We Guarantee Your Satisfaction
Our competitors like to wave around big point promises, but the ugly truth is that most of the guarantees in the test prep industry come with a lot of fine print.
Unlike other prep companies, our guarantee includes no legalese, no loopholes, and no tricky time constraints. 100% satisfaction guaranteed. No gimmicks. No games.
Here it is in black and white...
Ready To Get Your Higher Score?
Whether you're here after a few not-so-successful testing attempts or years before your child is set to pick up a #2 pencil, I have resources that can help you.
I am looking forward to helping you find incredible success on your ACT or SAT.
Lauren Gaggioli, Founder & CEO
After graduating from New York University with her B.F.A. in Theater, Lauren moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. To make time for auditions during the day, she called upon her academic roots from her high school days and began tutoring the SAT and ACT.
She quickly fell in love - not with the exams, but with the feeling that she was helping students put their feet on a firm path towards a big, bright future.
(Ok, maybe she fell a little bit in love with the exams too. Her dad didn't nickname her #2 Pencil Nerd for nothing.)
After 7 years working as an in-home tutor with a large test prep firm and then in her own independent tutoring company, Lauren distilled her experiences into the 4 different ACT & SAT prep programs that are now available through Higher Scores Test Prep.
Lauren's love of teaching and compassion for what students are facing in today's complex, competitive college admissions landscape allows her to bring a little bit of calm to her corner of the college admissions process.
Lauren is also the host of The College Checklist podcast. On the podcast, she interviews college counselors and other college admissions professionals, bringing timely, relevant information to today's college bound families.
Lauren lives in Seattle, WA with her husband Mike, and their 4 energetic babies: Gigi the Chihuahua, Malcolm the cat, Ava the human, and an as-yet-unnamed baby boy due in the fall!
When she's not teaching, she can be found training for her next half marathon, whipping up a new recipe in her teeny-tiny kitchen, or planning her next Disney vacation.
Bob Verbarg, Chief Financial Officer
Bob retired in 2008 after 33 years in senior management positions with a national payroll processing firm. The family moved 7 times during that period and he is ever grateful to Francine and his children for their willingness to cheerfully relocate so often.
Bob has always enjoyed sports, particularly golf and tennis, but after a 2010 MS diagnosis he has been sidelined.
Because of Bob's diagnosis, the Verbargs & Gaggiolis founded Team Bobby V to support Progressive MS Research.
11% of all of Higher Scores Test Prep's profits are donated to the team each year.
Bob is very proud of Lauren for her dedication to her students' success and for her entrepreneurial spirit in starting Higher Scores Test Prep. He is proud to be part of the team.
Francine Verbarg, Delivery Leader
After graduating from New York University with her B.F.A. in Theater, Lauren moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. To make time for auditions during the day, she called upon her academic roots from her high school days and began tutoring the SAT and ACT.
She quickly fell in love - not with the exams, but with the feeling that she was helping students put their feet on a firm path towards a big, bright future.
(Ok, maybe she fell a little bit in love with the exams too. Her dad didn't nickname her #2 Pencil Nerd for nothing.)
After 7 years working as an in-home tutor with a large test prep firm and then in her own independent tutoring company, Lauren distilled her experiences into the 4 different ACT & SAT prep programs that are now available through Higher Scores Test Prep.
Lauren's love of teaching and compassion for what students are facing in today's complex, competitive college admissions landscape allows her to bring a little bit of calm to her corner of the college admissions process.
Lauren is also the host of The College Checklist podcast. On the podcast, she interviews college counselors and other college admissions professionals, bringing timely, relevant information to today's college bound families.
Lauren lives in Seattle, WA with her husband Mike, and their 4 energetic babies: Gigi the Chihuahua, Malcolm the cat, Ava the human, and an as-yet-unnamed baby boy due in the fall!
When she's not teaching, she can be found training for her next half marathon, whipping up a new recipe in her teeny-tiny kitchen, or planning her next Disney vacation.
Bob Verbarg, Chief Financial Officer
Bob retired in 2008 after 33 years in senior management positions with a national payroll processing firm. The family moved 7 times during that period and he is ever grateful to Francine and his children for their willingness to cheerfully relocate so often.
Bob has always enjoyed sports, particularly golf and tennis, but after a 2010 MS diagnosis he has been sidelined.
Because of Bob's diagnosis, the Verbargs & Gaggiolis founded Team Bobby V to support Progressive MS Research. 11% of all of Higher Scores Test Prep's profits are donated to the team each year.
Bob is very proud of Lauren for her dedication to her students' success and for her entrepreneurial spirit in starting Higher Scores Test Prep. He is proud to be part of the team.
Bob Verbarg, Chief Financial Officer
Bob retired in 2008 after 33 years in senior management positions with a national payroll processing firm. The family moved 7 times during that period and he is ever grateful to Francine and his children for their willingness to cheerfully relocate so often.
Bob has always enjoyed sports, particularly golf and tennis, but after a 2010 MS diagnosis he has been sidelined.
Because of Bob's diagnosis, the Verbargs & Gaggiolis founded Team Bobby V to support Progressive MS Research. 11% of all of Higher Scores Test Prep's profits are donated to the team each year.
Bob is very proud of Lauren for her dedication to her students' success and for her entrepreneurial spirit in starting Higher Scores Test Prep. He is proud to be part of the team.
Francine Verbarg, Delivery Leader
While raising two wonderful children and living in three states of this great country, Francine became a highly organized and structured leader of the household. She further honed these skills as an advertising sales associate at the Los Angeles Times.
Francine's attention to detail will ensure that your orders will be handled promptly and accurately. She is looking forward to serving you!