Just click the register tab at the top of the page and pick the course with your desired start date, duration, and level of review.  You can pay securely and easily with a credit card through PayPal.   

Students generally can prepare for the SAT by attending review classes and reading review books. However, review classes and review books alone cannot prepare students for the essay portion of the test.  The only way for students to learn to write is to practice writing.  There is no alternative.  Furthermore, the writing has to be reviewed by competent instructors; someone has to tell students what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong.  Learning to write effective English is not easy; it takes work -- even for the brightest students.       

Intensive Writing is intended to be an affordable, convenient way for students to get the extra writing practice they need to write a superior essay on the SAT.   Intensive Writing is a sensible choice both for students who enroll in a general SAT prep course and for students who do not.  Almost all students need extra writing practice.   Our courses use the power of the Internet to efficiently connect students with tutors, who review the students' writing and provide the feedback that enables the students to improve their writing skills rapidly.     

Our tutors are people who know how to write -- and who have had experience in reviewing the writing of others.  We hire only top quality people, and we provide their credentials to our students.  Our tutors review the students' essays based on the scoring standards established for the SAT.   

A common concern of students in taking a writing course is that a particular tutor may have unusual writing preferences -- writing preferences that may not be shared by the graders of the SAT.  At Intensive Writing, we address that concern by assigning each student to two different tutors.  The tutors trade off in reviewing the student's essays.  By viewing the comments of two different tutors, our students can more easily grasp the basic principles of sound writing.  Our students can gain confidence in their ability to write a superior essay -- no matter who will be grading it.  We disclose to our students the backgrounds of the tutors assigned to them.  However, we do not reveal the contact information for the tutors.     

To ensure high qualilty, all the essay reviews provided by our tutors to our students are read by a second tutor or by management.     

Our six-essay courses cost only $99 or $149, depending on whether the student chooses a STANDARD REVIEW course or an ADVANCED REVIEW course.    Courses with fewer essays are available for as little as $39.    

In a STANDARD REVIEW course, the tutors provide feedback and comments on the essays for the student based on the five scoring categories applicable to the SAT (see below).  

In an ADVANCED REVIEW course, the tutors provide feedback and comments on the essays for the student and, additionally, correct the essays by marking specific, significant errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics.  The tutors also suggest specific language changes as appropriate.  The corrections and suggestions appear in red text when the student views the essay on our website.  . 

Intensive Writing is designed to give parents and students peace of mind -- peace of mind that often does not exist when parents hire private tutors for their children or enroll their children in private classes.   

For the privacy and safety of our students, we do not provide our tutors with any contact information -- including email addresses -- for our students.  Our tutors do not even have access to our students' full names.  Nor do we provide our students with contact information for our tutors.  We provide our students with general background information about our tutors, but we do not provide contact information.

Communication between students and tutors is handled exclusively through our website.  We review all email, both for purposes of quality control and to ensure against any inappropriate communications.

Parents and students who have tried our service are impressed. Here are a few of the comments we have received:

"Your feedback is excellent, and your comments are thoughful and constructive."  -- John L., parent in New York.

"Your program is great."  -- Katie A, Illinois.  

"With Intensive Writing I can learn what essay writing is all about." 

"This is simpler and better than using a tutor."  --  Paul S., Maryland

"It's hard to imagine a better way to learn to write."  -- Robert V., Virginia

"Writing ability is more important than ever, and this is a great way to improve in a hurry."  -- Laura G., Virginia

Intensive Writing is a service of Intensive Writing LLC, a Virginia limited liability company. 

You can contact us at jcgould@comcast.net.

Who is responsible for Intensive Writing LLC?

Jim Gould is the founder and president of Intensive Writing.  A Harvard-trained lawyer and the father of two teenagers, Mr. Gould founded Intensive Writing to help kids like his improve their writing skills.     

John Triggs serves as a contractor to build the website and software platform for Intensive Writing.  Mr,. Triggs holds an MBA from Duke University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. 

The graders for the College Board will assign each essay a score of 1 to 6, as follows:

6 -- Outstanding, demonstrating clear and consistent mastery. A few minor errors will be permissible.

5 -- Effective, demonstrating reasonably consistent mastery. Occasional errors or lapses in quality will be permissible.

4 -- Competent, demonstrating adequate mastery. Lapses in quality expected.

3 -- Inadequate, but demonstrates developing mastery. Will be marked by one or more major weaknesses.

2 -- Seriously limited, demonstrating little mastery. Will be flawed by one or more major weaknesses.

1 -- Fundamentally lacking, demonstrating little or no mastery. Will be severely flawed by major weaknesses.

According to the College Board, the following writing elements will determine the essay scores:

1. Degree of effectiveness in developing a point of view and demonstrating critical thinking, using examples, reasons, and other evidence.

2. Degree of organization, coherence, and smooth progression of ideas.

3. Degree of use of apt and varied vocabulary.

4. Degree of variety in sentence structure.

5. Degree of absence of errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics.