How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less

First of all, this book really cuts to the point. If you are skilled with skim-reading, you can get this book in about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Second, while these strategies are currently untested by me, they seem really practical. Rather than saying "study" or "write paper" or "take test", Dr. Newport lays down specific, useable guidelines for all areas that are intended to cut down on time spent on schoolwork. This helps you with more time to have fun, do extracurricular activities, or work 60 hours a week (like I will soon be doing). Third, this is THE anti-procrastination book, although I don't get the concept of starting term papers a month before they're due as the examples did. The whole concept behind this book is making sure you've got as little work going as possible that takes as little time as possible. Doing things upfront will ease your load later when the assignments and papers start rolling in and out. There are only a couple of issues I have with the book. 1) Dr. Newport almost makes the use of personal laptops compulsory in college. I get why it would be such an asset, but for some of us it is more of a liability than an asset. I really believe one can get through college without a laptop at a much smaller personal expense than the costs of buying a laptop/accessories, printer, ink, etc. If you already bought one, that's one thing, but if you haven't, why do you need one? Just use pen/paper and the computer labs' computers and printers. With the printers, odds are you're paying the same amount for 1000 pages that you would for toner (paper is free with the way they price it), and you don't have to drop the cost upfront, but pay as you need the printer. Financially, you're better off skipping the personal printer. 2) He didn't discuss what format to purchase textbooks, but considering he was so insistent on portability, I would probably haphazard a guess that a hard copy is the only way to go. Sure it may be expensive, but what if your Kindle or iPad gets stolen? Overall, highly, highly recommended. Get this for your child as an early (or very early) graduation present. Teaching them these things will save them a lot of headaches later on. One last note: This book is not for the lazy. If you aren't willing to do the work, don't expect this book to help. However, if you're someone like me who's sick of lazy and wants to convert, this book IS for you!

When I was taking 4 classes at my local community college, I tried to follow the part of the book that said just to learn math by examples. I ended having to drop the class because at first I was actually ahead of the professor. Then I tried this stupid book's technique of learning by examples and I ended up falling behind. The same can be said of "What smart students know" it's actually a good technique (smart students), but you end up spending hours thinking up questions. Questions can be a part of the process, but it can't be the whole process. I just bought an online course than is way better than both of these combined. It's so good. The point I'm at in the course you can memorize up to 50 items in reverse and forward. You can also tell which place in the list. An example could be The order of my hallway: Dog = front door Cat = wall Duck = light switch Printer = holder Hitler = chair MAO = rug Goku = ceiling light Kurrin = mirror Gohan = heater Frieza = painting You would then connect / visualize each word / picture with a part of your house. The rule is to visualize each for only 6 seconds while recalling can only take 6 seconds. If you miss one you have to do the six second process again until you make no mistakes. P.S. I'm not telling anyone the name of the course or where to buy it. I want to be ahead of all other students. Edit: I'm back in college taking two college level courses. While I don't agree with everything in this book (I have to re-read it) I agree with 80-85% of the methods used in this book that I remember. Such as not doing the reading he was right. I haven't done the reading in my psychology 101 class and have only focused on taking / memorizing / learning the notes and while I haven't gotten a grade yet, I actually feel I'm learning enough and today in class I note notes from a documentary we watched. The professor said to do the reading for chapter 2 of the textbook. I'm not even going to do it. I'm going to just take notes in class then go over the reading. I did this for my 1st set of notes and I didn't understand something in the lecture notes. I ended up re-reading that / part / example [it was on the scientific method]. I remember from taking my developmental math class that the professor was actually doing examples (even though I couldn't figure out from what part of the book they were from and / or I couldn't write every example like he said) If I had just asked questions and either watched videos on Youtube I would've probably remembered the material from that class. I'll do another edit once I'm done with classes. I'm also going to write / provide a list of books that I think are good for learning and have good advice for college. Edit: I ended up trying to do the advice from this book and if I didn't look up the answers for the test for my psychology class I wouldn't be in college today. I'm not saying that all of this book is bad but I went from thinking that 85% of it is good to now thinking that 50% of this book is good. The other half is crap. Such as the technique for Q/E/C he doesn't give any examples or enough examples. The other advice like making your own problem sets I wouldn't have thought of. Even though this is an all right technique your wasting time because you can just practice doing other peoples problems (like those online or from a professor) or do Bullet point concept from another book I read (I'm going to provide a list once I'm done with this review). The one technique that is very good is the lecture technique he mentions in the book. For some reason, this technique helps with putting material into memory. His section on writing papers is also very good. His explanation on how to prepare for and take exams is also good. Also, he should have made the book more visual and put actual writing from actual students other than that it's an all right book. Here's the list of books I've read (so far) that will most likely get you A's College Rules https://www.amazon.com/College-Rules-4th-Survive-Succeed/dp/1607748525/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530133408&sr=1-1&keywords=college+rules Guaranteed 4.0 https://www.amazon.com/Guaranteed-Follow-3-Step-Plan-Dont/dp/0974264806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530134451&sr=1-1&keywords=guranteed+4.0 How to study in college https://www.amazon.com/How-Study-College-Walter-Pauk/dp/1133960782/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530134633&sr=1-4&keywords=how+to+study+in+college The only book I've read from cover to cover is GT 4.0 it's probably the best in my opinion because the system in this book will get you A's. The only reason last semester I didn't get A's was because I didn't follow the system to the t. If you follow the GT 4.0 system to a t and don't get all A's she'll give you $100. Hope this helps. Edit 2020: From what I remember reading this book, this applies to college level courses and even at the same time I tried using his question / evidence technique while taking a psy101 class and couldn't do it. Also he's right to a very large degree about living off of lecture notes. Living off of the lecture notes IMHO can only be done if it's a science science class or a college level math class. I'm currently taking a pre-req class and the professor explains everything. Along with the Guaranteed 4.0 technique this is a pretty decent book.

This book is not that revolutionary, but very helpful. It essentially tackles three main problem areas for college students: 1) time management skills, 2) studying and exam prep, and 3) essay writing. Some of these are common sense things that many people resist implementing. If you are struggling with college, or are a high school senior unsure of what to expect in college, this book is very helpful. The true value in this book, for me at least, was in providing the satisfaction that these strategies worked. I would often start out a semester by doing the things listed in the book. I would manage my time, study effectively for exams, thoughtfully plan out papers and assignments. Halfway through the semester, I always had straight As. But as finals crept up, I would panic. Since every other student spent hours in the library studying, I abandoned the effective strategies to follow suit. As a result, my final exam grades were inconsistent and my final papers were always rushed. This book gave me the satisfaction of knowing that I can trust these time saving strategies. You do not need to spend hours and hours on projects to get a good grade. It's okay to not spend hours in the library studying for a final. Trust that these strategies work, and enjoy your stress-free semester. But, the book does have faults. While this book provides very useful information, I feel it misses two aspects of the college experience that can have a large impact on your grade: presentations and group projects. (Also the dreaded group presentation). While you can implement some of these strategies in these situations, it would be nice to know how top students manage working in group project settings, especially those that require research. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a group project where half the group doesn't show up to meetings, members refuse to do their work, or people drop the class halfway through the project. I still haven't figured out an adequate way to deal with these situations besides just doing the work myself at the last minute. Bottom line, this book is well worth the money. Whether you are a college senior or a high school senior and everything in between, this book will help you as long as you faithfully implement the strategies. But do search out other resources for help with managing group projects.

I first have to say I practiced what the author tell us to do, and that semester I got A's on all my classes, and my GPA has improved considerably (I wish I had read this several years ago). I bought this book at the end of 2011 and decided to put to practice what it says. I was very amazed at my former roommate's 5.0 GPA and scholarship to Stanford once he got his minor in Biology. This guy would just come home, watch movies, go out with his girlfriend, play sports a lot, go dancing, etc. We never saw him cramming or pulling one all-nighter, NOT EVEN ONCE!. The other 2 guys were jealous studying like crazy but with 3.85 GPA. When I asked him about his success he said he wasn't doing anything special, except for staying in school until he finished his homework for the day. It didn't make sense since we saw him at home around 6 pm. "I just divide the work for each assignment unless it is too easy, and I never stay more than 1 or 2 hours doing just one assignment, That helps me usually get over 100% so at the end of the semester I don't have to worry too much about tests and other stuff like that; I don't read the whole thing, EVER! I would never be able to read the 100+ pages required each week, plus memorizing, and then doing an essay, it is ridiculous." I read a few books about getting A's (I am from Mexico so the grading system is different), but they all said the same: read the whole thing, learn everything to avoid surprises, repeat it but in your own words, make notes in every paragraph, develop mental maps, and so on... This book is different (some of the things are similar but not the same). Here's the most useful piece of advice I got from it: It is very often more important to know what NOT to study, than what to study. Time is very limited and we shouldn't waste it trying to read all the materials, learn absolutely everything for the tests, etc (especially the night before whatever is due). Your brain will shut off before you can do that, so you're better off knowing what you can and cannot do without burning out. I also have to say I enjoyed precious nights of deep sleep, and going to the test with a fresh mind (and scent), instead of tired, desperate, stinky, and trying to memorize 5 minutes before the test. This book is a lot about having free time to enjoy (not just getting drunk like some reviewers said) while others are wishing they would have studied earlier. It is a lot about structure and dividing the workload throughout the semester, month, week, day. You need to pay attention since at some point it could get a little tedious, like when he explains how to prepare for an essay. But if you try them they will work; the ultimate goal here is making college less tedious, more enjoyable, and an experience that will enrich your life instead of becoming a very expensive hell. It is also worth mentioning that the author is not giving you something he just though of, but these are common habits among top students attending top universities. I can also suggest you try the methods in the book and combine them with others such as mnemonics; I memorize whatever information I don't think I'll need in the future, and just pour it on the test, then forget about the rest; I do this ONLY with useless info that won't help me in any other class, and when I know the test will allow it (like multiple choice, short answers, yes/no, etc). Would definitely recommend it.

Picking up the book How to Become a Straight-A Student by Cal Newport I hoped to improve my study skills and eliminate my procrastination. Cal Newport is a professor at Georgetown University and is the author of five self-improvement books. He is the founder of Study Hacks, which is one of the Web’s most popular student advice blog. Newport uses his own knowledge of being a successful college student and conducted interviews receiving advice from top-scoring undergraduates from some of the “most rigorous colleges and universities – including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Duke…” (3). Newport uses humor and an easy to understand conversational style of writing to keep the reader engaged. The book is set up in three parts. Part 1 is titled Study Basics and has 3 steps that it touches on. Part 2 is titled Quizzes and Exams and consists of 6 steps. Part 3 is titled Essays and Papers and has 8 steps. At the end of each part there are “Cheat Sheets” that summarize each part in a bullet style fashion. Two of the three steps spoken about in the book include “The Plan in Action” section. These sections use situational examples to give the reader a more visual explanation of the information the author describes. One of the most influential topics Newport touched on –I thought— was part one of his book – “Study Basics” (11). He splits this topic up into three steps. My favorite step was step one – “Manage Your Time in Five Minutes a Day” (19). The main idea of this section is to have a record of all your to-dos and deadlines on your calendar. Another thing I liked about the book was that Cal uses real life examples of successful college students to prove his point. He also uses direct quotes from top-rated students at major universities that said things like “Time management is critical – it’s a skill that you absolutely must develop over the course of your time at college” (19). Looking at the perspective from a student that already manages their time and occasionally gets that one low grade that they cannot for the life of the get up and is looking for helpful tips to fine tune that B to an A— this book is probably not for you. Although I do see the down side to this book to an audience that is already studious and knows how to manage their time, but overall, Newport has a lot of advice to give to student who are in the early stages of learning how to be a good student. A person might give a bad rating because it did not help them. People like me who chose to read this book because they were never really taught how to study, manage their time, or how write a college paper or know tricks in taking exams and tests – this book will help you; for that I am giving this book a 5/5 star.

Now I work as a guidance counselor and I bought 5 copies to gift to my advisees for new years gift!

I’ve attempted college twice. On my first attempt I ended up with a 1.8 GPA which resulted in academic probation and a fair amount of tears. I took an almost ten year long hiatus thinking college wasn’t for me before trying again. Except this second time I knew I had to do something different, and that’s when I picked up this book. On my second attempt I ended up with a 3.9 GPA upon graduation and also felt I didn’t have to work myself to the bone to get those grades. I found the chapters on note taking and time management to be particularly useful. While it’s true that my success also had to do with some maturity I had gained over ten years, this book gave me the tools and a system that helped me immensely. It not only helped me academically, but taught me how to “work smarter, not harder.” In short, get the book. You won’t regret spending the money on it.

This book gets 3 stars because it is a little bit old and it needs to be updated... Here it goes So I completed my first year and I want to add some supplemental things to this book to enhance its advice and strategies. First thing, this book does not guarantee to get you an A in your classes, however, it does help you achieve the highest grade that you can get in your classes (yeah C's really help me get to where I need to get through my first year). Did I get my A's this year following the advice in this book, yes and no. I highly recommend students to use ratemyprofessors.com in selecting the professors for the desired courses that they must take. In addition, ratemyprofessor is a very good popular source to find the best professors in achieving an easy A with or without little studying required. Take into account when this book was written, and some of the advice is still relevant today, however some advice is archaic or out-dated and it needs to be updated. One way is, you just can't register for classes without checking the professor's profile. If not, you will have a huge risk of working like a dog in the class that your in and if you follow the strategies in this book, it might not even help you because no matter how much work, time, and studying that you put into the course, your grades are coming back low or you might have to take a risk in taking a W (which I should have done). If the easiness score is above a 3.0, select that professor and I am sure you will have a change in getting A if you follow the strategies in this book. Next, I do agree about everything in this book when it comes to time management, which is VERY important in a college student's life. However, when the student register for courses, the student needs to be very careful of the times those classes are given, which the author did not mention in this book. Each college student academic schedule is different of course, but sometimes students register for classes that have no breaks in between or simply have a full day schedule is very dangerous because what if you have a test in each class on that specific day? Lastly, every student has a different studying habit. The strategies in this book is excellent to introduce to you new and proven studying habits, use them wisely! In my opinion, studying in groups is a total waste of time, if you study on your own in a locked room or quiet room where no can disturb you. You will learn exactly what you need to learn and the strategies in this book explains in full detail as well. So therefore, choose between studying among your friends or yourself. I also recommend getting this book with by the same author, How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country's Top Students .

Aunque no tiene ninguna referencia científica, el contenido se ajusta a lo prometido: una exposición de las técnicas más usadas por estudiantes aventajados. Muy interesante.

"How to Become a Straight-A Student" provides a refreshing perspective on academic success. The unconventional strategies presented in the book offer real-world insights from college students who have excelled while studying smartly. I found the book to be a valuable read, shedding light on effective techniques to achieve high grades while optimizing study time. If you're looking to enhance your study habits and achieve academic excellence, this book is definitely worth delving into.

Book quality is not great but the content is interesting. I tought it would be more interesting though but it had great gems

Libro molto pratico sull’organizzazione delle proprie giornate di studio che si può trasportare anche alla vita di tutti i giorni. Adatto agli studenti ma anche a chi vuole acquisire un metodo di organizzazione.

Commandé le 20 août, reçu le 25 au lieu du 28 comme normalement prévu. Livre tout neuf ! Très hâte de le lire ! Merci !