How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less Author: Cal Newport | Language: English | ISBN:
B000MAHBYQ | Format: EPUB
How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less Description
Looking to jumpstart your GPA? Most college students believe that straight A’s can be achieved only through cramming and painful all-nighters at the library. But Cal Newport knows that real straight-A students don’t study harder—they study smarter. A breakthrough approach to acing academic assignments, from quizzes and exams to essays and papers,
How to Become a Straight-A Student reveals for the first time the proven study secrets of real straight-A students across the country and weaves them into a simple, practical system that anyone can master. You will learn how to:
Streamline and maximize your study time
Conquer procrastination
Absorb the material quickly and effectively
Know which reading assignments are critical—and which are not
Target the paper topics that wow professors
Provide A+ answers on exams
Write stellar prose without the agony
A strategic blueprint for success that promises more free time, more fun, and top-tier results,
How to Become a Straight-A Student is the only study guide written by students for students—with the insider knowledge and real-world methods to help you master the college system and rise to the top of the class.
- File Size: 237 KB
- Print Length: 224 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0767922719
- Publisher: Three Rivers Press (December 26, 2006)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B000MAHBYQ
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,244 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
This book really got me excited about my second semester of college. Immediately before reading this, I had just finished reading and learning the method in Adam Robinson's "What Smart Students Know" - which Newport bashes rigorously in his introduction. I too was under the impression that Robinson expected too much of the typical college student, and Newport's book was totally the relief I was looking for.
What I loved about "Straight-A Student" was that it provided a great framework for understanding the system that you have to work within. The time and focus management, and organizational part have helped tremendously. It also separated out the difference between technical and non-technical courses and the methods by which you should approach them. Even the writing portion makes sense. My total approach to college and classes has been simplified by these things.
So why only three stars? Well, in my literature class I applied all the "big idea" methods and did great in all my discussions and essays. I couldn't believe how easy it all was. Then I took my first exam. It was hard for me let go of my usual "grind" ways and trust the process, so I decided to study half Newport's way and include half Robinson's way (which requires a lot less time than the author suggests). You couldn't imagine my dismay when I open the exam only to find that the questions were requesting very technical details of the reading material I demoted because neither the teacher nor students ever referred to them at all.
On the half of the questions that applied to the material I studied using Robinson's method, however, I didn't even have to think. I knew the answers and was able to answer easily.
*read the comments below this review for more info if you really need help! :D*
I saw the raving reviews for this book so I bought it. I must say, I rather enjoy it. It gives simple, concise advice. No BSing around. Only the bare minimum of what you need to make straight As. I agree with what everyone has said.
The problem comes when you've got a learning disability. I have reading and ADD. Some of Newport's advice simply will not cut it for me. For example, he talks about how you shouldn't waste time reading the assignment before class. Instead, go to class taking good notes (& of course there is a section explaining his minimalist approach to good notes). This plan of action is disatrious for an ADD student. We struggle to pay attention. We have a tendency to not "move on" to the next topic without an understanding of what we see. We miss the lecture, essentially. For me to NOT do the reading before hand is actually a strategy for failure. Reading material beforehand gives me understanding of the lecture so I can focus, ask questions, etc.
That was just an example of how some methods in this book may not work. So, unfortunately, not all of us can cut as many corners as Cal could... For some of us, we need to take time, but we can be smart about how the time is used.
So i you get this book and find that something is not working for you, don't blame yourself. Find a new strategy and check out other books.
But no matter who you are, if you are beginning your research on the most effective study plan FOR YOU, this book is an awesome place to start. It will give you a good foundation of no-nonsense, modernized concepts that permeate throughout the "how to study" book options.
Currently, I am using more of the "Guaranteed 4.
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