CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Justin Wymer successfully landed in the Ivy League after graduating first in his class from St. Albans High School in 2008. Now, the 19-year-old Harvard sophomore is sharing his education expertise with area students to help them achieve their college dreams.

Beginning July 18, he will teach a four-week SAT prep course for students in all high school grade levels. Classes are at St. Albans High School at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturdays. The Saturday classes are full SAT exams.

In addition, there are eight practice exams students can take at home if they wish as well as dozens of problem sets and an extended online preparation program. Wymer also will have unlimited office hours for students who need assistance, and he is available for one-on-one SAT, AP English and SAT II Spanish tutoring. A package combining the classes and private tutoring is available.

At Harvard, Wymer is studying English Language and Literature and romance languages. He's a published poet -- in English and Spanish -- and a former writer for the Gazette's teen section, FlipSide. He received National Merit and Robert C. Byrd scholarships in high school and was accepted and awarded scholarships to 10 schools: Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Washington & Lee, Swarthmore, WVU and Marshall.

"I'm doing this course as my personal service project," Wymer said. "I'm leaving West Virginia for the next few summers, but I wanted to give back to the state before I left."

The course is through Ivy Insiders, of which Wymer is a member. It's a test prep company that hires solely from the Ivy League, ensuring that each instructor's own SAT score falls within the 99.5 percentile. (Wymer's was 2340.) It boasts an average score improvement of 264 points -- double that of Kaplan and Princeton Review.

"The SAT is NOT solely based on how intelligent you are. It's all about strategy and how well you follow the College Board rules," Wymer said. "Ivy Insiders works on 'SAT game theory.' We teach specific types of questions found on the SAT, so that you'll see them on the exam and automatically know what type of answer they're looking for."

Though cheaper than the courses from Kaplan and Princeton Review, the class still may be pricey for some. However, Wymer says he wants to make the class as accessible as possible, so he will work with all interested students to make it affordable.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Justin Wymer successfully landed in the Ivy League after graduating first in his class from St. Albans High School in 2008. Now, the 19-year-old Harvard sophomore is sharing his education expertise with area students to help them achieve their college dreams.

Beginning July 18, he will teach a four-week SAT prep course for students in all high school grade levels. Classes are at St. Albans High School at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturdays. The Saturday classes are full SAT exams.

In addition, there are eight practice exams students can take at home if they wish as well as dozens of problem sets and an extended online preparation program. Wymer also will have unlimited office hours for students who need assistance, and he is available for one-on-one SAT, AP English and SAT II Spanish tutoring. A package combining the classes and private tutoring is available.

At Harvard, Wymer is studying English Language and Literature and romance languages. He's a published poet -- in English and Spanish -- and a former writer for the Gazette's teen section, FlipSide. He received National Merit and Robert C. Byrd scholarships in high school and was accepted and awarded scholarships to 10 schools: Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Washington & Lee, Swarthmore, WVU and Marshall.

"I'm doing this course as my personal service project," Wymer said. "I'm leaving West Virginia for the next few summers, but I wanted to give back to the state before I left."

The course is through Ivy Insiders, of which Wymer is a member. It's a test prep company that hires solely from the Ivy League, ensuring that each instructor's own SAT score falls within the 99.5 percentile. (Wymer's was 2340.) It boasts an average score improvement of 264 points -- double that of Kaplan and Princeton Review.

"The SAT is NOT solely based on how intelligent you are. It's all about strategy and how well you follow the College Board rules," Wymer said. "Ivy Insiders works on 'SAT game theory.' We teach specific types of questions found on the SAT, so that you'll see them on the exam and automatically know what type of answer they're looking for."

Though cheaper than the courses from Kaplan and Princeton Review, the class still may be pricey for some. However, Wymer says he wants to make the class as accessible as possible, so he will work with all interested students to make it affordable.

The base price is $699, but all students receive an automatic $100 discount. From there, students fill out a five-question form from the Ivy Scholars Initiative to determine what parents can pay. Additional discounts will be negotiated if necessary.

Wymer said that one enrolled student got his price down to $124 and that he helped another student get to $350.

As for the extras, the hybrid course is $399 in addition to the classroom package. It includes everything from that course plus two, two-hour private tutoring sessions to work on testing weaknesses and to develop test-taking strategies. Private tutoring is $999 for a single-subject course (eight hours of instruction spread over two to four weeks) or $1,799 for multiple subjects (20 hours over four to five weeks).

"I really want people to sign up for this class because I want to see people from West Virginia achieve their goals, whether it's a sports scholarship, winning the Promise Scholarship or getting into an Ivy League School."

And speaking of Ivy League acceptance, Wymer offered two bits of advice:

"When you apply to an Ivy League school, everyone applying is going to be just as talented and smart as you are. You have to find the one thing about you that's really special and exploit it to the fullest extent. I exploited writing and poetry, and I think that's what got me accepted into most schools.

"Also, play up your Appalachian roots. On the applications, I didn't say I was white; I said I was German/Appalachian-American. (It's considered its own ethnic subgroup.) I also wrote lots of essays on Appalachia and how it shaped me."

In addition to his academic accomplishments, Wymer is also a skilled athlete. At St. Albans, he was a yearly qualifier for state and regional tennis tournaments, and he plays intramural tennis at Harvard.

To contact Wymer, e-mail justin_wy...@ivyinsiders.com.