WEST WINDSOR: This boot camp mixes learning and laughter

By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
   WEST WINDSOR — What is wrong with this sentence: Bob Woodward was a reporter, which reported for the Washington Post.
   The problem is Mr. Woodward is not a witch.
   ”Don’t call people ‘whiches,’ unless they are witches — then it’s an accurate description,” said tutor David Hohwald. And since Mr. Woodward is not a witch, he would be referred to as a who.
   Learning how to avoid grammar pitfalls was only one of the many lessons a packed teenaged audience learned at a SAT Bootcamp on Saturday at the High School South put on by Catalyst Prep.
   The students each paid $165 to not only learn how to ace one of most frightening tests known to teenagers, but to do so through current entertainment and pop culture.
   Jared Friedland, a High School South alumnus and former Hollywood comedy writer combined his talent for humor and love for education six years ago to create Catalyst Prep. What started out as an experiment turned into a popular business that now serves more than 15,000 students in 12 states and boasts an average SAT score improvement of 170 points for one boot camp session.
   The company also donates a portion of their proceeds back to the schools. Mr. Friedland said it is not unusual for Catalyst Prep to raise up to $20,000 for them in a few weekends.
   On Sept. 29, the students embarked on part one of their weekend boot camp experience. Clad in sweat pants and hoodies, many of the students sat sleepily at their desks with their Catalyst manual open before them. However, Mr. Hohwald had them giggling in no time by channeling Yoda and the Jonas Brothers for subject/verb agreement strategies and using Homer Simpson for tips on the correct usages of ‘and I’ or ‘and me.’
   ”Bart and me want cake — if you slash off ‘Bart’ it would be ‘me want cake’ — it doesn’t work,” explained Mr. Hohwald. “It may work for the Simpsons, but it doesn’t work on the SATs.”
   Villanova University alumnus Mr. Hohwald, 23, passed the rigorous “audition” for Catalyst and has been tutoring students for almost a year.
   ”I enjoy it; it’s nice to see people understand the mechanics of a test that’s so rigid,” said Mr. Hohwald. “It’s amazing to learn how formulaic the test is — this boot camp really demystifies it.”
   He was particularly impressed with the large turnout that Saturday morning — describing the number of students who dragged themselves out of bed to learn grammar and math a feat in itself.
   ”If I see them even smiling, to me that’s a big improvement,” he added.
   And smile they did as they learned how idioms are different in every country — from how dogs “woof woof” in America “au au” in Lithuania and “hav hav” in Turkey.
   Mr. Hohwald also taught them tricks to shave time on the improving paragraphs portion, reminded them correct answers can start with “because” and listed the offenders on Catalyst’s Most Wanted — SAT traps that use fake phrases that are always wrong.
   Now students know to automatically rule out answers that include phrases such as “being a” and “this is why.” Mr. Hohwald also advised them to avoid sentences that end in “this” or “that.” He also taught them to recognize repetition and redundancy by having the group read a few George W. Bush quotes — a gold mine for grammar identifying don’ts.
   The students took a brief break to munch on cookies and make restroom stops before they ventured into Mr. Hohwald’s critical reading tips and tricks. However, the Catalyst guru was more excited for one of Sunday’s lessons: how to nail the essay.
   He added that they would also be learning math — a subject he said comes naturally to most students.