"In the challenging environment of New York preparatory schools, even an organized and high-performing student can struggle with juggling the complex demands of heavy workloads as well as extracurricular and athletic activities. Schools have raised the bar and expect work quality from students at a level previously associated with college.

As a person who navigated the demands of elite universities and as the mother of two students who have faced these issues in New York private schools, I understand the skills needed to be successful. There is no pre-set tutoring formula: Different students require different approaches. The ultimate goal of my work with all students is to build the capacity to focus and to organize, leading to improved effectiveness and reduced stress.

Essay Writing Skills:

Efficient essay writing is a necessary skill in high school, yet often middle school does not adequately prepare students for the writing requirements of high school. As a result students find themselves overwhelmed by the increased workload and demands of high school writing and can fall further and further behind in their work.

A lot of the organizational skills translate as well into essay writing. Most students do not approach an assigned essay until just a couple of days prior to the due date. And then they are scrambling to pick a topic and thesis, and research and write, all within a day or two. Yet most essays are not a surprise: schools assign them usually two weeks to a month before they are due. And teachers are also available for discussing topics. Students seldom use the resources available as they are, understandably, busy with work that is more immediately due.

A key element of organized essay writing is to set deadlines for oneself—for identifying a topic, refining the thesis, completing an outline, having a draft done—and to abide by these deadlines as much as possible. The idea is to have control over the process, rather than to let the process control you.

Often a critical component of a good" less...