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.
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How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less
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Raymond Cheung
Eye-Opening Insights in "How to Become a Straight-A Student"
Reviewed in Canada on August 14, 2023
