Cal Newport

Offers time-management strategies, tips on taking tests, techniques for writing essays better and faster, and self-assessment tests to help students analyze their study skills.

The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less

How to Become a Straight-A Student

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.

Belle

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.

Chris Aldrich

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.

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

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