How to Become a Straight-A Student

The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less

0767922719
Cal Newport

Notes

Remember, to-dos and deadlines that exist only in your mind drain your energy, distract your attention, create stress, and are more likely to be forgotten…The idea is to build a routine in which you use the same reserved time slot each week to do the same thing… Become a ghost during the day.

Part One Cheat Sheet – Time Management

Step #1:

  • Manage Your Time in Five Minutes a Day
  • Jot down to-dos and deadlines on a list whenever they arise.
  • Transfer these to-dos and deadlines to your calendar every morning.
  • Plan your day each morning by labeling your to-dos with realistic time frames and moving what you don’t have time for to different dates

Step #2:

  • Declare War on Procrastination
  • Keep a work progress journal, and every day record what you wanted to accomplish and whether or not you succeeded.
  • When working, eat healthy snacks to maximize your energy.
  • Transform horrible tasks into a big event to help you gather the energy to start.
  • Build work routines to make steady progress on your obligations without expending too much of your limited motivational resources.
  • Choose your hard days in advance to minimize their impact.

Step #3:

  • Choose When, Where, and How Long
  • Try to fit as much work as possible into the morning and afternoon, between classes and obligations.
  • Study in isolated locations.
  • Take a break every hour.

Identify the big ideas…Listen for pauses, which usually follow key points. recording all your notes in the following structure:

  • Question
  • Evidence
  • Conclusion

If you understand the question and the conclusion, all you need is a sampling of the evidence that connects the two.

Part Two Cheat Sheet – Taking Notes

Step #1:

  • Take Smart Notes
  • Always go to class and try to take the best notes possible.
  • For nontechnical courses, capture the big ideas by taking notes in the question/evidence/conclusion format.
  • For technical courses, record as many sample problems and answers as possible.

Step #2:

  • Demote Your Assignments
  • Work a little bit each day on your assignments; avoid suffering from day-before syndrome.
  • Read only the favored sources on the syllabus in detail. To decide how much time to spend on supplemental sources, remember the importance hierarchy: – readings that make an argument are more important than – readings that describe an event or person, which are more important than – readings that only provide context (i.e., speech transcripts, press clippings).
  • Take reading notes in the question/evidence/conclusion format.
  • Work in groups on problem sets, solve problems on the go, and write up your answers formally the first time.

Step #3:

  • Marshal Your Resources
  • Figure out exactly what the test will cover.
  • Cluster your notes for nontechnical courses.
  • Build mega-problem sets for technical courses.

Step #4:

  • Conquer the Material
  • Embrace the quiz-and-recall method. It’s the single most efficient way to study.
  • Spread out memorization over several days. Your mind can do only so much at a time.

Step #5:

  • Invest in “Academic Disaster Insurance”
  • Eliminate the question marks for topics covered in class or from the reading that you don’t understand.

Step #6

  • Provide “A+” Answers
  • Look over the whole test first.
  • Figure out how much time you have to spend on each question (leaving a ten-minute cushion at the end).
  • Answer the questions in order of increasing difficulty.
  • Write out a mini-outline before tackling an essay question.
  • Use any and all leftover time to check and recheck your work.

…great thesis typically has at least these four qualities:

  • Provocative
  • Nuanced
  • Direct
  • Inclusive

Part Three Cheat Sheet – Writing

Step #1:

  • Target a Titillating Topic
  • Start looking for an interesting topic early.

Step #2:

  • Conduct a Thesis-Hunting Expedition
  • Start with general sources and then follow references to find the more targeted sources where good thesis ideas often hide.

Step #3:

  • Seek a Second Opinion
  • A thesis is not a thesis until a professor has approved it.

Step #4:

  • Research like a Machine
  • Find sources
  • Make personal copies of all sources.
  • Annotate the material.
  • Decide if you’re done. (If the answer is “no,” loop back to #1.)

Step #5:

  • Craft a Powerful Story
  • There is no shortcut to developing a well-balanced and easy-to-follow argument.
  • Dedicate a good deal of thought over time to getting it right.
  • Describe your argument in a topic-level outline.
  • Type supporting quotes from sources directly into your outline.

Step #6:

  • Consult Your Expert Panel
  • Before starting to write, get some opinions on the organization of your argument and your support from classmates and friends who are familiar with the general area of study.
  • The more important the paper, the more people who should review it.

Step #7:

  • Write Without the Agony
  • Follow your outline and articulate your points clearly.
  • Write no more than three to five pages per weekday and five to eight pages per weekend day.

Step #8

  • Fix, Don’t Fixate
  • Solid editing requires only three careful passes:
    • The Argument Adjustment Pass: Read the paper carefully on your computer to make sure your argument is clear, fix obvious errors, and rewrite where the flow needs improvement.
    • The Out Loud Pass: Carefully read out loud a printed copy of your paper, marking any awkward passages or unclear explanations. –
    • The Sanity Pass: A final pass over a printed version of the paper to check the overall flow and to root out any remaining errors.