Probably one of the greatest fears if you polled high school students is taking the SAT. It has made many a blood run cold. And the worst part seems to be the SAT essay portion. One topic, 25 minutes: Go. Write a well-organized, critically-thought-out essay with examples. At 8 a.m. Ack!
Fortunately, there are options. This Saturday, we spent the day at a High School Essay Intensive course, designed specifically for the SAT and college entrance essays. It was lead by Andrew Pudewa, the founder of the program. The experience that we have had with Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) has been very favorable, so I decided to give the workshop a try.
When my daughter was in the 7th grade, I purchased the DVD program Student Writing Intensive, a 
complete program for teaching writing. There are three levels, A, B and C, depending upon age and experience with writing. I purchased the B program, figuring I could both gear it to a higher level or bring it down to the lower level for my son when it was his turn. To be honest, my daughter didn't love it. She prefers more freedom when writing. I however, found it a great program, and Andrew Pudewa was entertaining on the discs. And her writing did improve.
The High School Essay Intensive program gave my daughter the building blocks she needed for writing an effective essay. The approach was systematic and strong.
By providing a Discussion of Criteria, word lists, writing diagrams and outlines and exercises, the material proved to be invaluable. Though my daughter had some hesitations, she went with me. She found it was excellent seminar, and she has new-found confidence in essay writing. She left prepared and able to write a good all-around essay.
It was inexpensive for the value and I highly recommend the series, which is also available on DVD, in case Andrew doesn't come to your area any time soon. And at the end, my daughter thanked me for taking her to the workshop, though she was reluctant at first to attend. I don't think there could be a higher recommendation than that.
IEW offers many products for writing and improving communication, as well as an email loop, chat and teaching support. Andrew's email is available to anyone who buys the program, a touch that I believe few programs provide. He really does want to know what you think.
*this is an uncompensated and unsolicited review, because I really believe in the product.
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