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

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

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 agonyA 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.Review?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??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?nd? better social life!?-Jason Ryan Dorsey, author of?y Reality Check Bounced!About the AuthorCal Newport graduated from Dartmouth College, earned a Ph.D. from MIT, and is now an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University. He?s the author of five books, including most recently theWall Street Journal business bestsellerDeep Work. He also runs the popular blog Study Hacks, which explores the impact of technology on our ability to perform productive work and lead satisfying lives. His contrarian ideas have been featured on many major media platforms, including theNew York Times,Wall Street Journal,Washington Post,Economist and NPR.?isit him online at calnewport.com.Excerpt. ?Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.A common complaint I hear from students is that they never seem to have enough time to finish all of their work. They vent about how many hours they spend-late nights reviewing in the library, weekends sacrificed to paper writing-but no matter how hard they try, there always seems to be something else due. As Matthew, a straight-A student from Brown, explains, it?s easy for college students to become ?stuck in a state of permanent catch-up.? Understandably, these students feel like they have reached their academic limit; they believe that unless they forgo sleep or any semblance of a social life, there are simply not enough hours in the day to stay on top of all their schoolwork.Let?s start by getting one thing clear: This belief is false. The problem here is not the amount of available hours, but rather how each hour is spent. I know this from firsthand experience. While researching this book, I spent time with some of the country?s most accomplished students, and I can assure you that no matter how diligent you think you are, there is a Rhodes scholar out there who fits in three times the amount of work and activities you do and probably still manages to party harder than you would ever dare. I don?t mean to imply that everyone should aim to become a drunken Rhodes scholar (though it would certainly be fun to try); rather, my point is that a surprising amount of work, relaxation, and socializing can be extracted from a single twelve-hour day. A lack of time, therefore, isn?t enough to explain why so many students feel overwhelmed. So what does exp