Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13778 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-26
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review

“This book delivers on its title 100 Percent. I wish I'd had a copy when I was in college—I would have had a better GPA and a better social life!”—Jason Ryan Dorsey, author of My Reality Check Bounced!

“A smart, concise, fun, and above all informative guide on how to ace college by being smarter about how to work . . . This book is a must-have for anyone who wants to do well at college and enjoy it too.” —M. Cecilia Gaposchkin, Assistant Dean of Faculty for PreMajor Advising, Dartmouth College

Review

“This book delivers on its title 100 Percent. I wish I'd had a copy when I was in college—I would have had a better GPA and a better social life!”—Jason Ryan Dorsey, author of My Reality Check Bounced!

“A smart, concise, fun, and above all informative guide on how to ace college by being smarter about how to work . . . This book is a must-have for anyone who wants to do well at college and enjoy it too.” —M. Cecilia Gaposchkin, Assistant Dean of Faculty for PreMajor Advising, Dartmouth College

About the Author

Cal Newport graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth in 2004, where, using the strategies outlined in this book, he earned thirty-six straight A’s in a row. Also the author of How to Win at College, he is studying for his Ph.D. in computer science at MIT.

Customer Reviews

A good guide to academics, but social pressures are the real challenge
This is a good book to guide you through the perils of academics and basic college issues. However, the sad fact of most American universities is that exams are easy and you will do great on them if you go to class, do the readings, and study. The greater challenge is dealing with social pressures and lifestyle decisions that can prevent you from making it to class and hinder your ability to study. It is when personal lives impede on academic lives that students begin to struggle. To prepare for college, students need to prepare for the overwhelming social madness they are going to be encountering on campus. I thus recommend you buy a book that deals with real college life like: COLLEGE LIFE EXTREME: Lies, Sex, Drugs and Violenceor Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities or Goat: A Memoir.

The most overlooked book on bookstores shelves for doing well in college
To put it simply, Cal's book in my personal opinion is the most overlooked book on the shelves of bookstores that have a section on "college".

This is not a book that says, if you try harder it will work. It depends entirely on research done by him by interviewing students at major universities and literally "demystifying success".

We often tend to think that doing well in college means doing an inordinate amount of work and staying in the libraries all night and burning the midnight oil. This book and it's author at his blog [...] burn a hole through the touted 'burn the midnight oil theory'. It's been an eye-opener.

Full Disclosure: I discovered his book towards the end of my 4 years at college and found his topics on paper writing to be tremendously beneficial. I wish I had discovered the book sooner and was able to implement it in it's entirety. I was depending on other systems and whilst they were teaching me to study better, they didn't tell me anything about managing my life on somewhat of a daily basis and allowing more fun in my day to make my life better not only academically but socially as well.

This book works
I've been a C student my whole life. I liked learning... but hated school.

After this book, I've been on the Dean's List for the past 3 semesters. This book will actually show you how to study less and get better results. I wished I read this book early on in life. I highly recommend picking up a copy.