I have been teaching academic reading and study skills, writing, and SAT prep courses for 27 years. Among the more than thirty colleges at which I have taught study skills are Amherst, Williams, Bucknell University, and the United States Naval Academy.

My teaching has always emphasized a simple rule: if you know how a piece of writing was construced by the author, you will know how to reverse the process to take it apart and find its essential meaning. If you know how a test is const...