Boot Camp for Your College-Bound Student

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
— Abraham Lincoln

Do your college-bound students have a few hours this summer to sharpen their skills? Many students will head off to college unsure if they are ready for the twenty-page papers, hours of lectures, and unending presentations. If you have a college-bound senior, consider the Advanced Communication Series. This three-disc set provides instruction on persuasive writing and speaking, advanced note taking, and planning and writing a college-level paper.    

Persuasive Writing and Speaking

By honing the skills to write and speak persuasively, students will excel in every subject where these skills are required. While PowerPoint may have changed the way public speaking takes place, the need for clear, concise, and convincing content and presentation has not. This first disc gives in-depth instruction on how to write and speak so as to slowly but surely change your audience’s minds about the topic.

Advanced Note Taking

Although it’s been nearly twenty years since college, I distinctly remember the pain associated with my World Civilizations class—pain from writer’s cramp. The professor had to cover world history in fifteen weeks. What else could he do but simply lecture for forty-five minutes at a time? I filled several spiral-bound notebooks with lecture notes, my hand aching as I struggled to keep up. The instruction given in this second disc covers advanced note taking, using a visual method to show the connections between concepts. This just might have saved me much pain and paper.

Power Tips for Planning and Writing a College-Level Paper

The third disc, which gives instruction on how to plan and craft a college-level term paper, would be worth the price of the set by itself. In this episode, Mr. Pudewa lets students in on a little-known secret. Professors all have their own writing styles, and they like to read papers that sound like their own preferred style of writing. I attended a small private university, so by the end of my degree, I had had many classes with the same three or four professors. Early on, I discovered how to write the two-page papers my history professor assigned weekly and the fifteen-pagers that my literature professor loved to assign about halfway through the term. And it was true that they awarded better grades to those who wrote like they did. So how do you find out what your professors are looking for? This disc gives your student the tools for their spy kit.

It’s now June. Your student leaves for college in August. You don’t have a semester to get them up to speed on college-level writing, right? Have no fear. This set can be completed in as little as three days, watching one disc per day. It also includes lesson plans to reinforce the concepts, which can be completed in 12 sessions. As a homeschool graduate many years ago, I anxiously awaited my freshman class papers, wondering if the grades would show I knew what I was doing. Andrew Pudewa’s Advanced Communication Series would have boosted my skills going into college. Pass along the gift of preparation to a college-bound student you know.