Product Description

Starting from the premise that successful students are not necessarily any more brilliant than their less successful peers, but have simply mastered the art of efficient learning, Adam Robinson introduces high school and college students to an innovative approach that can help them achieve top grades while discovering the joy of true learning. Line drawings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6825 in Books
• Published on: 1993-07-27
• Released on: 1993-07-27
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Inside Flap Copy
Starting from the premise that successful students are not necessarily any more brilliant than their less successful peers, but have simply mastered the art of efficient learning, Adam Robinson introduces high school and college students to an innovative approach that can help them achieve top grades while discovering the joy of true learning. Line drawings.

Customer Reviews

Good, not excellent
Adam Robinson presents some interesting advice. However, the book keeps repeating itself and it seems to assume that we have infinite time to study. It is better suit to high school than college.

Clever Marketing Ruse? No Way! Robinson is a Genius
Just over a year ago, I was walking through Borders when I noticed this book and laughed to myself at its prominently displayed and clichéd promise of MAXIMUM GRADES.

"Oh great, I've seen this before," I thought. "Only suckers and suckers' parents buy these books, anyway." I walked away.

After all, who doesn't want maximum grades? Or, for that matter, a shorter waistband, to become a magnet for beautiful women, or to have an instant multi-million dollar bank account?

This was some kind of scheme, right? WRONG!!! VERY, VERY WRONG!!!

I was not a bad student when I bought What Smart Students Know, but I certainly was not a SMART student either. I can proudly say, as a soon-to-graduate high school senior who has meticulously applied Robinson's methods in my own life (and seen my grades go up DRAMATICALLY as a result), that THIS IS A BOOK THAT CHANGES PEOPLE- NOT JUST ACADEMICALLY, BUT PHILOSOPHICALLY AND EVEN EMOTIONALLY.

Perhaps the single most powerful element of Robinson's book is his promise of OPTIMUM LEARNING. Not the most readily graspable concept, I understand. But it's there... AND HE MEANS IT.

At a time when more and more students are applying to Ivy League colleges and when universities are becoming increasingly discerning of high school performance, it's easy to loose sight of what's really important in the rat race for an A.

Robinson refuses...no... DEMANDS his readers to preserve, both in themselves and their communities, the understanding that grades are nothing more than a necessary evil, and that they should not dictate either a student's self-esteem or his drive to learn, challenge, and better himself.

For those of you who at this point are thinking exactly what I was when I first saw this book, take note:

I speak NOT from the view of a student who was desperately failing in school when he bought this book- quite the contrary- but from that of a CONVERTED SKEPTIC who has found a textual diamond in the rough. I've never liked school, but this book taught me how to handle and exploit it without wasting any time.

Top FIVE Lessons I learned from What Smart Students Know:

5. The first step in the learning process is about recognizing one's purpose in learning: Why am I studying zoology, anyway? What do I already know about zoology? Is the primate chapter more or less important that than the amphibians one?

4. How to listen in class... Not all lectures were created equally. Crazy as it now seems, I used to delude myself that they were.

3. How to take notes... don't waist your time rewriting everything... repetition, obsessive re-reading, and, worst of all, rote memorization can get you good grades- maybe even perfect grades- but they can only erect an illusory monument of REAL, LONG-LASTING, PERSONALLY MEANINGFUL LEARNING.

2. Attitude is everything. Don't get me wrong, School sucks. But that shouldn't get in the way of your education (c.f. Mark Twain)!

1. YOU ARE YOUR OWN BEST TEACHER... PERIOD.
Near the beginning of the book, Robinson aptly quotes Winston Churchill in saying, "I am always ready to learn, but I do not always like being taught."

Churchill's call should resonate with every high school and college student in America.

What is the educational crisis really about? Robinson asks. It is the fruition of a long history of misconceptions about how students think and learn. Education begins with the STUDENT, not the system that "educates" him.

In What Smart Students Know, readers of all levels ("whether you're getting straight A's or struggling for C's") will meet their ally in Robinson. His aim is to debunk conventional wisdoms and rewire students, academically and philosophically, to learn with SELF-SUFFICIENCY... and teach them to get straight A's along the way without it becoming an all-consuming motive.

Time Saver and Eye Opener
I got this book along with The Rocket Review, The Rocket Review Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to the New SAT (Third Edition) (Rocketreview Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to the New SAT) which I wrote a review on as well, because it really is my favorite SAT book. Either way, I never made time to read "What Smart Students Know" until I was bored on the train coming home. I usually never buy into these books that promises improvements in grades or even SAT's instantly, but this is actually a book that I ended up taking to college because I found it so useful.

The way the author writes is straight, so there isn't time wasted on trying to figure out what the author is trying to tell you, it is easy to follow. The graphics are great, it's funny and I will be honest it really does show you most efficient way to learn as much as you want to learn, and get whatever GPA you want to get. It is a book that I strongly recommend and because it isn't expensive and it isn't a hard read or long I don't understand why anyone wouldn't spend $15 and actually get a book that, depending on what you want to do with it, will help you save time, and open your eyes in school. In my class I had a really good friend, who never studied yet, would come into class, finish a test in half the time and get an A. While I study for hours at night, and wake up early in the morning to study one more time so its fresh in my head. I started reading this book, and it essentially became my guide because it is a book that you don't have to sit and read through all at once but you can use it as a reference and that is why it is so useful, it lowers stress for studying because it tells you what is most effective in order to get that A.

Bottom Line: You don't buy the book to get a 200 on your IQ test, rather, it is a book that teaches you how to get the best grades in school and not have to spend hours.