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

Obviously aimed at students living on campus and attending in-person lectures, which I'm not, so there were lots of examples that didn't apply to me. But it was a short book and I got some good suggestions out of it for taking notes and writing essays. I expect I'll do better at future uni classes thanks to what I've learned.

I read this hoping for some side material on memory, but was disappointed to find it entirely lacking. It did suggest using flash cards, but didn't delve into or reference any of the literature supporting why flash cards work or how to use them best. The book certainly wasn't aimed at me in general, as most of the material seemed like common sense, though it was common sense that most students choose to eschew or ignore though they know it well. It's the academic equivalent of saying that smoking and fast food are bad for you while knowing that most people will ignore the advice. Some of the time management material is simply a watered down or vastly simplified version of things like GTD (Getting Things Done) or similar devices. There are a few useful bon mots for the totally clueless, but I'm glad I sped read through it, so it was an hour's worth of mildly entertaining diversion. Most of the advice isn't too different from that of my friend David Zucker, though for some of the high school crowd going to college, the book could have benefited from some of his general advice.

Really useful.