Jump to content

Menu

Anybody read this book: How to Become a Straight A Student...


Recommended Posts

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

 

I got this from the library a while back, wasn't sure if I was going to bother, but it's actually turning out to be very thought-provoking! In fact, more than thought-provoking, it's got a lot of concrete skills I can turn into goals of things to hit for high school for dd. If your dc is going into that stage, might be an interesting read.

 

One thing that jumped out at me from it was that, duh, if she's going to type for her note taking she's going to need to be even faster (she was at 40 wpm last I checked, a huge improvement for her), and she's going to need some EXPERIENCE with this. Don't know why I was so slow on the draw on that, mercy. We have all these threads talking about dysgraphia, but at some point they have to make the transition to how they use that skill or accommodation for the next level. I hadn't even thought through that.

 

And of course he has lots of EF stuff like how they organize. I figure if she's going to use a system like that then, she might as well learn it now. His comments on study locations were interesting to me. Made me wonder to what extent our approach has been undercutting her attention and whether maybe his "seek out quiet niches" approach would work well for our kids. The flop default is on the bed, and of course working at a table with a 4 yo banging around you isn't quiet. I was avoiding quiet niches, thinking somehow that was sort of catering to attention issues (I know, sounds perverse when you put it that way, lol). However here he is saying NON-label kids need it and that EVERYONE benefits from it. So there you go. Just needed it spelled out in plain english for me, lol.

 

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book, and I'm going back to make a list of change things, things I want to carry into our hs time as skills or targets. I don't think we can achieve all of it immediately, nor do we need to. But little changes and taking preparatory steps (more work on typing, practice taking notes with typing, etc.) would be good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ha Elizabeth! I just took oldest son back to school yesterday and I tried to grab the Cal Newport book (from his dorm) to take home with me - for the dyslexic. College boy wouldn't let me!! He said his brother would never actually read it anyway (very true, but I would have).

 

DS16 desperately needs to learn how to study for a test. Gotta do some serious research.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I posted this a few months ago on the high school board, but in case you didn't see it .... There's a fabulous series of free, in-depth study skills lectures on YouTube by Professor Scott Brueckner of Long Beach City College. While the lectures are geared toward college students, most of the info is applicable to middle & high schoolers as well.

 

There are 14 lectures, each about 45-50 minutes, that cover the following topics: Habits of Successful College Students, Organizing Your Study Time (Parts 1 & 2), Improving Your Listening Skills, Taking Better Lecture Notes, How to Predict Test Questions, Preparing for Tests, Test-Taking Skills, More Test-Taking Skills, How to Remember For Tests, Memory Tricks, More Memory Tricks, Great Ways to Study, & More Great Ways to Study. Many of them include helpful printable handouts. DS12 & DS16 have watched 8 of the 14 lectures so far, & they've been incredibly informative. I highly recommend watching these with your kids. Did I mention they are free? :hurray:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you!

 

Bookmarking these to watch later.

 

Dawn

 

I posted this a few months ago on the high school board, but in case you didn't see it .... There's a fabulous series of free, in-depth study skills lectures on YouTube by Professor Scott Brueckner of Long Beach City College. While the lectures are geared toward college students, most of the info is applicable to middle & high schoolers as well.

 

There are 14 lectures, each about 45-50 minutes, that cover the following topics: Habits of Successful College Students, Organizing Your Study Time (Parts 1 & 2), Improving Your Listening Skills, Taking Better Lecture Notes, How to Predict Test Questions, Preparing for Tests, Test-Taking Skills, More Test-Taking Skills, How to Remember For Tests, Memory Tricks, More Memory Tricks, Great Ways to Study, & More Great Ways to Study. Many of them include helpful printable handouts. DS12 & DS16 have watched 8 of the 14 lectures so far, & they've been incredibly informative. I highly recommend watching these with your kids. Did I mention they are free? :hurray:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing these resources! My daughter really struggles with figuring out how to study. I'm going to have her watch the videos that were linked, and I think I'll buy that book for her too. Hopefully by the time she starts 9th grade in the fall she'll have a basic understanding of what study skills work for her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...