How to become straight a student

How to Become a Straight-A Student Summary

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

When you close your eyes and imagine a straight-A student, you probably picture someone who studies for a long time and has very little social life, or someone who is annoyingly and naturally gifted.

How to Become a Straight-A Student is a fun, pragmatic look at succeeding, while also enjoying college life.You don’t need to grind hard or be naturally talented to excel, and Newport’s research shows that straight-A students have numerous things in common, and use similar unconventional strategies to work smarter, not harder.

In Cal Newport’s second book, we’re given a fresh approach to learning and studying. Newport studied at Dartmouth and worked hard in his freshman year; however, he didn’t achieve the results that he wanted. This led him to reassess his learning methods and adopt some strategies and hacks to optimize his studying. He met other straight-A students through the honor society, and learned some insightful things about what constitutes a well-rounded student.

Through interviews, Newport learned that grinding and pulling all-nighters isn’t an effective way to study. Students who work arduously are just working harder, without the desired results, and this only leads to anxiety and stress. Obviously the people he interviewed are smart, because they managed to get into college, but what set them apart was their techniques and strategies to study and complete assignments.

How to Become a Straight-A Student doesn’t negate the importance of studying. On the contrary, it’s a book about instilling a passion for learning. It’s an inspiring read to set you on the path towards knowledge, and through case studies, examples, and science, Newport provides us with insightful and easy to implement techniques. The book is divided into three parts: how to study, how to perform in tests, and how to write better essays and papers. We’ll briefly look at some of the salient points to get you started on becoming more productive and inspired to learn.

A Straight-A Formula For Success

How many hours do you spend studying before a test? And, how many hours do you think you need to study to get the best results?

Looking around the average college campus, you’ll see many students who are arduously working and grinding away. These students are often incredibly stressed and anxious, and they frequently buckle under the pressure of it all. College isn’t supposed to be like this, and if you find yourself not being able to cope, it may be time to question what you’re doing wrong. College should be about balancing work and campus life, and Newport’s research shows that the high achievers do manage to «have it all.»

Where most students go wrong, is that they believe that working hard means putting in the maximum number of hours. This is an utterly archaic principle, and research shows that just because you’re spending time doing something, doesn’t mean you’re being effective.

Newport found that there are two kinds of work. There’s «pseudo-work» and «real work.» Grinders tend to labor over «pseudo-work,» whereas ace students tend to do «real work.» These findings were the precursor to Newport’s trademark idea of «deep work,» which is the idea that working well, is about focus and intensity, not time. In order to get ahead, and this applies to everyone – not just college students, we need to get work done quickly and effectively. Working effectively means that we minimize the amount of wasted time and energy.

In true Newport style, he gives us a winning formula to help simplify this idea.

The formula is, W = T, multiplied by I.

The I stands for intensity, and intensity is the factor that’s going to change the game. Whereas most students focus on time, and praise time spent studying, research shows that focus and intensity are significantly more important. If we look at the formula, we can see how this works. For example, if you have a big math exam to study for, you might set aside 20 hours for studying. You might divide these hours into two days and work for 10 hours each day. However, because you’re working for 10 hours straight, you’re likely to be unfocused and distracted. If you rate your intensity levels, you might generously give yourself a 4 out of 10. If we look at the formula, this equates to 40, because 10 hours multiplied by an intensity level of 4 = 40. You can probably see where we’re going with this?

If we turn this equation around, and up the intensity level to 10, we’d only have to work for 4 hours to reach 40. So the solution to the problem is to focus on intensity, because this drastically reduces the number of hours. This is the key to working smarter, not harder.

It’s worth noting that if you’re not used to «real work,» or deep work, you’ll find it challenging to begin with 1 hour of focused and disciplined work. Like all of our muscles, our brain needs to be trained, so start with 30 minutes of concentrated work, and in no time, you’ll be able to manage up to an hour.

Know Your Enemy

What’s the number one thing that’s keeping you from studying or working?

For most of us, procrastination is the major obstacle that prevents us from reaching our goals. This is where Newport is most pragmatic, because he doesn’t give us a magic solution to conquer procrastination. Instead, he suggests that we identify procrastination, accept it, and try to deal with it more effectively. He also says that we’re all bound to procrastinate at some stage, because there’s some work, that as he puts it, «sucks.» There are loads of things that we have to do that we’re not going to enjoy, but if you want to be at the top of your game, and set yourself apart from those around you, you need to go to war with your urge to procrastinate.

Here’s the deal, procrastination is like an addiction, and we all have to deal with it. No one is immune to it, but certain people can overcome it because they find coping strategies and don’t allow it to win. Procrastination is an enemy that isn’t going away, but we can win battles against it with a few well-developed strategies.

The best students apply strategies to deal with procrastination, and realize it’s futile trying to conquer it. So here are five ways to overcome the urge to procrastinate.

So many of us procrastinate because we don’t have a sense of accountability. It’s easy to make excuses when there’s no one to hold us to task. Being accountable to ourselves is a way to make sure we stay on top of our assignments and goals. The suggestion here is to keep a work progress journal. Every day, write down a list of realistic goals that you want to accomplish, and at the end of the day, tick off what you’ve got done. If you manage to get everything done, and you found it a bit too easy, then adjust your list for the following day. However, if you fail to check through everything on the list, you need to write down exactly why you didn’t manage to get the task done. The rationale behind this, is that It’s a lot more difficult to accept failure to perform if we’re honest with ourselves, and have to be accountable. For example, imagine having to write down, ‘I didn’t write my midterm paper because I was binge-watching a series on Netflix.’

The next strategies deal with developing a tight schedule and routine. Procrastination is more likely to occur if we’re low on energy. As we know from Eat Move Sleep, energy requires food, exercise, and sleep to be at 100%. Hence, «feed the machine» by ensuring that you’ve scheduled enough sleep, exercise, and healthy meals.

This links to the idea that in order to perform most efficiently, we need to create a solid daily routine. Start working or studying once you’ve woken up, and build «real work» blocks into your day, until you get to dinner. Schedule your blocks of high-intensity work, with shorter blocks to rest. The motivation to start as soon as you wake up, is because this is when our brains are at their best. Furthermore, schedules are often interrupted by other events or things that come up unexpectedly. If we get an early start, it’ll mean that we can account for interruptions to our routines.

When scheduling, we also need to make sure we space out our work and don’t have too many hard days in a row. It’s also okay to have a rest day if you feel that you’ve worked intensively for long enough. Newport is a strong advocate for taking breaks and enjoying life. He argues that the best college students manage to work effectively all day, and then be able to relax and enjoy themselves in the evening.

Finally, make an event out of the worst tasks. There are some tasks we really battle to sit down to. In cases such as these, Newport suggests adapting our environments. He argues that we’re more likely to perform a task we don’t like, if we incentivize ourselves to do it. So, perhaps find a quiet coffee shop and enjoy a cup of coffee and a treat while you study, or seek out green space like a park.

When, Where, and How?

We’ve established that the earlier we start studying, the better. It’s a good idea to study when we wake up, allowing us ample time to enjoy ourselves in the evening. However, studying also happens in class. No matter how tired or hungover you may be, going to class is absolutely essential if you want to be a straight-A student. Getting into the habit of missing classes will mean that you’re regularly playing catch-up on the material. Keeping on top of your work also means you won’t be tempted to cram everything at the last minute.

The best place to study is somewhere where you’re isolated. Find a variety of places conducive to studying, so that you can change your environment when you need a change of scenery. The key to intense and focused work is that there are no distractions.

The number one tip for effective studying, is that you shouldn’t just read and re-read your notes. No matter how thorough your notes are, they will become nothing more than a crutch. Reading and re-reading provide us with what’s known as the «fluency illusion.» The fluency illusion is when we think we know the material because we’ve read our notes so many times. Reading and re-reading give us the illusion that we grasp everything. However, when it comes to actually recalling this information in a test situation, we realize we have massive knowledge gaps. The lesson here is that to prevent the fluency illusion, remove the crutches to studying, and quiz yourself. You should know your material so well that you could stand up and teach it. In the same way as a good teacher doesn’t read from notes or a textbook, you should be able to recall and explain your subject.

Newport also provides numerous tips on how to study for various subjects. For example, if you’re studying for a subject like history, the advice is to write structured notes around developing an argument, and then repeating the argument aloud. If you’re studying for math, an excellent way to learn is to quiz yourself to assess comprehension. Flashcards are useful if you need to memorize material. Straight-A students are in the habit of carrying around flashcards so that they can quiz themselves throughout the day. We’ve learned that it’s useless to study for more than an hour at a time, and that we need to focus on taking regular 5-10 minute breaks. This is known as distributed learning. So whatever you’re studying for, make sure that you adopt the principle of distributed learning.

What’s In the Exam?

How do you feel about writing exams?

For many of us, exam time is stressful, but Newport says it doesn’t have to be. There’s a technique to exam writing, and provided you’re well-prepared, this should alleviate a lot of the unnecessary anxiety.

Once you mastered the formula of intense «real work,» gone to battle against procrastination, and learned how best to study, you can begin focusing on exam preparation. The first thing to do is to strategize your learning. You need to identify what’s relevant, and what’s likely to appear in the exam. Attending lectures and classes will assist you with this, because often lecturers drop hints about what to expect. Being a straight-A student is all about paying attention and engaging with the course material.

Furthermore, when going through each section of work, you’ll intuitively know which details are most important. You’ll know this by familiarizing yourself with each topic and argument. Newport suggests getting «Academic Disaster Insurance,» which will ensure that there’s no subject you’re unfamiliar with. The key to Academic Disaster Insurance is to ask questions throughout the semester, engage in lectures, consult with your lecturers, and have discussions with classmates. Learning and retaining information is about engaging and being proactive, so don’t just think all you need to succeed comes from your notes.

Writing an excellent exam is all about being well-prepared and confident. However, there are some tips and strategies to write a good exam. When you get the exam, immediately start planning your approach. This will prime and prepare your brain for what’s to come. Once you’ve read through the exam, create a plan and time frame to answer each question, and make sure that you leave an additional ten minutes at the end.

Begin by answering the questions that you find easiest to answer, and then move onto the more difficult questions. By taking this approach, you’ll not only engage your brain straight away, but you’ll gain confidence and will lay a solid foundation for the rest of your answers. Finally, spend the last ten minutes proof-reading and editing your exam script.

«A-cing» That Essay

Writing papers and essays is a big part of college life, and therefore you should make the most of them, and enjoy the experience.

Newport explains that the best way to start writing a paper or essay is to identify a topic that you find fascinating, and want to get started on immediately. Whether or not you enjoy this research and writing experience depends on when you start it. Nobody enjoys writing when they’re under pressure or unclear of what they need to write about. Therefore, it’s crucial to spend time thinking about a topic that interests you. The great thing about college assignments is that they come with a lot of freedom to formulate unique topics based on a broad subject. When we’re genuinely interested in something, it’s a rewarding and enriching experience, and straight-A students manage to find what interests them, and then develop ideas around that. Before you begin the research and writing process, it’s a good idea to scaffold your paper and break it into sections. You’ll find it a lot easier to research something when you know what subjects and topics you have to cover, and what areas you need to fill in any blanks.

Remember that college is a time to find out what interests you, so keep an eye out for potential topics to write about. Once you’ve identified a topic, start broad and then narrow your focus. When it comes to research, all of your main ideas should have at least two sources, and then for additional ideas, it’s okay to rely on one key source. Research is about knowing when you have enough information, so don’t waste time over-researching and going down rabbit holes. In short, know when to stop.

As with studying it’s a good idea to take regular breaks. The best thinking often happens when we’re doing mundane tasks like washing the dishes or taking a shower. You might find that taking a break allows you to find inspiration. Another way to up your inspiration and creativity levels is by reading and engaging with a variety of articles, essays, and discussions.

You may think that you’ve completed your essay once you’ve typed the final word. However, every straight-A student knows the value of proper editing and proofreading. The first thing to ask yourself is whether your argument hangs together, and if your essay has any missing information. You also want to check for clarity when you do your first «big picture» edit. Next, print out your document and edit it with a pen or pencil while reading it aloud. Once you’ve done this, make the edits and print it out again – you’re a lot more likely to identify typos on a hard copy document than on a computer screen.

The last step is to sit back and genuinely enjoy and appreciate the paper you’ve written. You should be proud of the document you submit.

In Conclusion

How to Become a Straight-A Student, isn’t a book to help you pass or achieve good results for the sake of it. Neither is it a magic wand to get you to where you need to go. It’s a book about teaching us the value of focus and discipline, which makes the pursuit of knowledge a more exciting and rewarding endeavor.

In an increasingly stressful world, where there’s lots of disillusionment about the future, this book gives us helpful strategies to take back some control. College shouldn’t just be about doing it «because you have to,» or doing it «because it’s the thing to do.» Education is about gaining new knowledge and skills, and having fun while doing it. Furthermore, by excelling at college, you’ll open the door to much more opportunities and experiences.

Having a greater sense of autonomy allows us to take control of our lives and to be responsible for our future. What’s more, Newport shows us practical skills to develop, which will enable us to apply our knowledge to real-world experiences. At the end of the day, intensity, focus, and discipline are resources that are becoming increasingly rare. If you can harness these resources, you’ll add tremendous value to the world.

It is your choice whether or not you want to become a straight-A student; you just have to ask yourself, ‘Do I have what it takes to do focused and intense real work?’

How to Become a Straight A+ Student

This article was co-authored by Ashley Pritchard, MA and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD. Ashley Pritchard is an Academic and School Counselor at Delaware Valley Regional High School in Frenchtown, New Jersey. Ashley has over 3 years of high school, college, and career counseling experience. She has an MA in School Counseling with a specialization in Mental Health from Caldwell University and is certified as an Independent Education Consultant through the University of California, Irvine.

There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status.

This article has been viewed 125,212 times.

Making an A+ in every single class is quite an accomplishment as a student. Do you think you have what it takes? Contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily have to be the smartest person to make great grades—but you do need a strong sense of self-discipline and good time management skills. Here, we’ve gathered some of the best tips you can use to perform well in all of your classes.

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\u00a9 2022 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is not licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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\u00a9 2022 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is not licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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\u00a9 2022 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is not licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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\u00a9 2022 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is not licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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\u00a9 2022 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is not licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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The Steps To Become A Straight A Student

So you want to be a straight A student. That’s great! But before you convince yourself that the only way to succeed is to spend sleepless nights at the library, wired up on coffee, cramming in as many study hours as you possibly can, it’s important to understand that this is not the way. There are much more effective, simple, and realistic ways to make your dreams come true and get those straight As without completely burning yourself out. The most successful students don’t necessarily study harder and longer, but rather, they study smarter. Sometimes, less is more. Here’s how to become a straight A student and the necessary steps for success.

How To Become a Straight A Student

The work that you accomplish is not a factor of how much time you spend studying, but rather the quality of your focus. Most students believe that good grades come only with pulling all nighters, but the real secret is to study smarter, rather than harder.

1. Manage your time in 5 minutes each day

Most students have a tough time with time management, although it’s a critical skill that’s needed to succeed not only in college, but in everything in life. By investing a mere five minutes a day to manage your time, you can live a more stress-free and balanced life without missing out on all the excitement of college.

2. Always have a plan

Make sure to always have a plan ahead of time, and to always be on top of important dates for tests and deadlines. Using a calendar, either a digital or physical one, you can mark dates down and even set scheduled times where you will sit down to study.

3. Be organized

Having a folder to files all of your subjects is a great way to stay organized. Have a section for each subject to avoid confusion, and be sure to place all relevant notes and papers in the right section.

Always be sure to keep a list of your homework and refer to that list every day when you come home from school. Check your calendar at the end of each day as well to make sure that there are no upcoming assignments that you haven’t started yet.

4. Take care of your physical health

The ideal amount of sleep is eight hours — and some people even need nine hours. Sleeping less can affect your success and your ability to focus while studying. If getting to sleep at an earlier hour is hard for you, try gradually easing yourself into it.

Eating healthy will help you focus better when studying, and get the most of the hours you put in. Just like your parents and doctors always told you, be sure to eat regular meals throughout the day, drink enough water, limit sugary drinks, and have plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Research has found that physical activity improves your thinking skills and memory. Even just three times a week for 30-45 minutes can seriously help you succeed academically.

5. Don’t cram — instead, use a periodic review system

Periodic review has been proven to be more effective than cramming when it comes to studying. By reviewing the course material on a regular basis, it is more likely to really stick with you and you will actually understand the material. Periodic review is also a lot less stressful than cramming at the last minute.

6. Form a homework group

By having a homework group, you can avoid giving up as you may get discouraged and frustrated along the way. Other people in the same boat as you can not only provide support and motivation, but they can also help you understand and solve complex problems.

7. Set up a distraction-free study area

It can be a challenge to avoid distractions while studying. There are apps such as Freedom that can help you stay focused. Turning off your phone and putting it out of sight is also helpful.

Working in a clean area free of clutter can also help avoid distractions. Time your study sessions and make sure that you are giving yourself the breaks you need to succeed.

Rewarding yourself after completing a certain amount of studying also never hurts.

8. Clarify your doubts immediately

Many students will wait until the last minute to clarify doubts they may be having. This can lead to anxiety and panic on test day. Don’t wait! Be sure to always check things right away, as soon as you notice that something is unclear.

9. Increase focus while studying, decrease frequency

The biggest secret to success is to increase your focus while studying, rather than your actual study time. Studies have found that the ideal study sessions are actually just 50 minutes long.

10. Keep a work progress journal to uncover your excuses

Every morning when you wake up, make a list of the most important work that needs to get done for that day. At the end of the day, if something wasn’t done, write down the reason for that. Seeing the same excuses over and over might tell you something and help you become more self-aware.

11. Use the three P’s to move through exams smoothly: plan, procede, proofread

These 3 magical P’s — planning, proceeding, and proofreading are key when it comes to passing exams successfully. Make this step-by-step plan part of your exam-taking process to help reduce anxiety.

Planning means skimming through the exam to see what’s ahead of you. Proceeding means starting with the questions you can answer easily, and proofreading includes leaving yourself time at the end to go over everything.

What else can you learn?

Other than learning the importance of quality over quantity, we can also take from these lessons that studying needs to be done at the right time, place, and mood.

Another lesson to take is that there is a certain way to take notes, and it’s also not about quantity. Be sure to keep them in the right file! Ask yourself the right questions to learn what you need to know without digging much deeper.

Who would I recommend the How To Become A Straight A Student summary to?

What Straight A Students Do:

1. The super-achievers

While it may seem as though super-achievers were just born with natural brains, this is not always the case. These successful students are often merely people who have mastered correct study techniques.

2. Priority setters

Straight A students know to set their priorities straight — making studying number one. If they’ve scheduled a study session, no matter what comes their way, they will stick to their commitment.

3. Everywhere is your study space

Learning that literally anywhere and everywhere can be your study space is also another secret to success. Make the most of your time and perhaps you’ll even discover a place that helps you study the best!

4. Organized

Being organized is key to becoming a straight A student. A clear mind helps to focus better when studying and be less distracted, and it starts with even the smallest of things.

5. Read fast!

Speed reading is one of the most valuable skills to learn, especially in college when students are assigned endless pages that simply can’t be read slowly.

6. Schedule your time

Schedule your time in the best way that will work for you. If you’ve been assigned a huge project, don’t stress! Break it up into small parts and decide when you will get those parts done.

7. Use your notes

While reading your textbook is of course important too, what’s in your notebook will always be the most important, because that’s what your professor has put the most emphasis on. Use those notes to your advantage! They are your study summary.

8. Clean up your work

Always be sure to hand in neat work. As opposed to a sloppy or slightly torn paper, one that looks appealing to the eye and as though effort was put into it will always get a better grade.

9. Participate in conversations

Don’t be afraid to speak up! It’s your key to success. If something isn’t clear, ask your teacher. You will also surely be helping someone else in the class who had the same question.

10. Get help

Seek the help you need to succeed. Ask your teacher, a friend, a peer or a parent. If you don’t ask, you might never find the information or learn the skills needed for success.

11. Be Organized

If you want to know how to get good grades in university, or succeed at anything in life for that matter, it starts with organization and planning. These are the ultimate keys to success. Always make sure that you have a concrete plan for yourself and that you are on top of your work, including all your deadlines, whether it be for home assignments or tests.

A calendar can be your best friend throughout college, and is a useful tool to make a study schedule for yourself that you commit to sticking to. While writing everything down in a calendar and planning out your time may seem time consuming, in the long run, you could be saving yourself a great deal of time — rather than feeling overwhelmed and all over the place, not knowing where and when to start.

Being organized in college goes beyond just time management, and if you really want to know how to get straight As in university, it means being organized in your every move, such as keeping all of your notes in one place — whether it be a folder on your computer or having everything in one organized notebook or filing folder with clear tabs that make all materials easy to access.

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Make Health a Priority

On your journey of discovering how to become a straight A student, it’s normal to make some common mistakes, such as staying up all night long to study as much as possible, skimping on sleep, and sometimes even on meals in order to save time to study. This is one of the most popular, yet dangerous mistakes that students make while trying to succeed in college.

Making health a priority is just as important as being organized in college.

When it comes to health, both your mental and physical health need to be taken seriously and given the attention they require. In order to study long hours and truly be able to focus in class, you’ll need energy, which can only be obtained from a good night’s sleep. No amount of coffee will be able to have the same effect on our bodies, and we aren’t machines. Convincing yourself that you will ‘eventually catch up on lost sleep’ will never really work in your favor.

On top of sleep, it’s also important to stay active as much as possible and engage in physical activity, whether it be joining a gym, a sports team, doing some yoga or walking on your own. Make a plan and commit to it. It can be very hard on our bodies to be sitting down at a desk all day, and exercise can help prevent common aches and pains caused by that. By working out regularly, it can also provide us with more energy and help us better focus during our study hours.

When it comes to eating, it’s no less important than the rest of the steps to success. As you search for ways on how to become a straight A student, know that it’s a holistic process. It’s not just the hours you put in or the way you study, it’s also the way you treat your body and your mind, which is what will allow you to succeed.

Always make sure to eat healthy, complete meals that include foods from all of the food groups, including proteins, fruits and vegetables. Make sure to drink lots of water, rather than binging on coffee and sugar-filled energy drinks that will give you a short-lived boost, and then will have you crash completely.

Be Proactive

While searching for ways on how to get good grades in university, it’s crucial to understand that sometimes less is more. Cramming is not the way to success. One hour of completely productive, focused studying can be a whole lot more effective than an entire day. Remember this, and make sure that you are studying smart.

This does not mean, however, that you should invest as little time as possible into your studying. It’s very easy to convince yourself that since the test is in a few months that you have all the time in the world, and that you can study right before. Otherwise, you won’t even remember the material, right? Well, actually that couldn’t be more wrong!

In order to avoid cramming, make sure to review your class material on a regular basis and do your homework even if it isn’t mandatory. It will help make exam period a whole lot less stressful, and if you really are reviewing the material periodically, it will be stored in your memory. The material will become a part of your everyday knowledge, without having to think about it too much. It may seem like a big investment to make to be studying every week even when it’s not finals time — but it will save you time in the long run. That’s really how to become a straight A student.

If you feel as though you are struggling to succeed in college due to personal reasons such as not being able to support yourself through school without working, then know that you have other options and can still be a straight A student. Don’t let external factors stop you from succeeding!

University of the People offers online US accredited, tuition-free degree programs, which makes higher education accessible to all. This means students are able to study remotely and still work part-time or fulfill their responsibilities at home with a more flexible class schedule. It also removes the financial stress that often comes with attending college, allowing students to focus fully on their studies and make their dreams come true.

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Create a Support System

In order to succeed in college and get straight As, it can be helpful to form a homework or study group with your fellow classmates, creating a support system for yourself. It can help keep you on track, can help keep you motivated to succeed, and studying with others is also a great way to learn valuable study skills and tricks. Every student has a different way of learning and we can all learn from our peers. By working together and reciting the material out loud, it can also help us better retain the information.

Part of creating a support system also means getting to know your professors. Find out what their office hours are, ask questions on a regular basis, and have them get to know you. Show up to class and show an interest and effort. They will see that and will want to be a part of your success, helping you in any way that they can.

Now that you know how to become a straight A student, you’re all ready to start your successful college path!

Cal Newport

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

Looking to jumpstart your G.P.A? Most college students believe that straight As can only be achieved through cramming and painful all-nighters. But Cal Newport knows that real straight-A students don’t study harder—they study smarter. A breakthrough approach to acing assignments, from quizzes and exams to essays and papers, How to Become a Straight-A Student reveals the proven study secrets used by real straight-A students across the country. You will learn how to:

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 with the insider knowledge and real-world methods to help you master the college system and rise to the top of the class.

Praise

“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!

“The student-friendly mind-set is what sets this academic success manual apart from the countless others…The defining characteristic of this book is it does not ignore the fact that college students have an overwhelming tendency to procrastinate, sleep and have a good time, often putting grades at the bottom of the totem pole…How to Become a Straight-A Student equips the college student with an attainable, hands-on guidebook to do well in all classes, without becoming a caffeine-addicted recluse.”
—The Daily Texan, student paper of the Univeristy of Texas

“Every college student should read How to Become a Straight-A Student.”
—The Central Connecticut State Recorder

Check out the 100+ reviews on Amazon.com »

Book Information

How To Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less
By Cal Newport
Paperback, 224 pages (ISBN: 978-07679-22715)
Published by: Broadway Books
Publication Date: December 26, 2006

Excerpt

(from Part I: Study Basics)

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 explain this phenomenon? The answer, as it turns out, has much more to do with how we work than what we’re trying to accomplish.

As humans, our minds have evolved to prefer short-term tasks such as “run away from that lion” or “eat food.” Therefore, when you walk into the library on a Sunday morning with the goal of finishing all of your homework and writing a paper, your brain isn’t happy. The idea of spending eight consecutive hours trapped in a study carrel is dispiriting. Plus, it’s hard to focus for that long, so pretty soon fatigue will set in, your concentration will wander, and every distraction will suddenly seem impossibly appealing. Before you know it, the day will be over and you’ll realize that you haven’t accomplished much productive work at all. The next day, new assignments will pile onto those you didn’t finish on Sunday, and the tedious process starts all over again.

Jason, a straight-A student from the University of Pennsylvania, uses the term “pseudo-working” to describe this common approach to studying. The pseudo-worker looks and feels like someone who is working hard-he or she spends a long time in the library and is not afraid to push on late into the night-but, because of a lack of focus and concentration, doesn’t actually accomplish much. This bad habit is endemic on most college campuses. For example, at Dartmouth there was a section of the main library that was open twenty-four hours a day, and the students I used to see in there late at night huddled in groups, gulping coffee and griping about their hardships, were definitely pseudo-working. The roommate who flips through her chemistry notes on the couch while watching TV is pseudo-working. The guy who brings three meals, a blanket, and six-pack of Red Bull to the study lounge in preparation for an all-day paper-writing marathon is also pseudo-working. By placing themselves in distracting environments and insisting on working in long tedious stretches, these students are crippling their brain’s ability to think clearly and efficiently accomplish the task at hand. The result is fatigue headaches and lackluster outcomes.

The bigger problem here is that most students don’t even realize that they’re pseudo-working. To them pseudo-work is work-it’s how they’ve always done it, and it’s how all of their friends do it. It never crosses their mind that there might be a better way. Straight-A students, on the other hand, know all about pseudo-work. They fear it, and for good reason. It not only wastes time, but it’s also mentally draining. There is just no way to be well-balanced, happy, and academically successful if you’re regularly burning through your free hours in long, painful stretches of inefficient studying. The students I interviewed for this book emphasized again and again the importance of avoiding this trap. In fact, when asked what one skill was most important in becoming a non-grind straight-A student, most of them cited the ability to get work done quickly and with a minimum of wasted effort.

So how do these students achieve this goal? A big part of the solution is timing-they gain efficiency by compressing work into focused bursts. To understand the power of this approach, consider the following simple formula:

work accomplished = time spent x intensity of focus

Pseudo-work features a very low intensity of focus. Therefore, to accomplish something by pseudo-working, you need to spend a lot of time. The straight-A approach, on the other hand, maximizes intensity in order to minimize time. For example, let’s rank intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the most intense). Assume it takes ten hours to finish studying for a test by pseudo-working with a low intensity score of 3. According to our formula, this same amount of work can be accomplished in only three one-hour bursts, each with an intensity of 10. The work that took you all day Sunday to complete could instead be finished by studying an hour after breakfast, an hour after lunch, and an hour after dinner-the rest of the day being free for you to relax!

With this formula in mind, you can begin to understand why many straight-A students actually study less than their classmates: They replace long, low-intensity stretches of work with a small number of short, high-intensity sessions. Of course, this is not the whole story behind their success; what straight-A students actually do in these short bursts is also crucial-technique is just as important as timing. Part Two (Quizzes and Exams) and Part Three (Essays and Papers) of this book are dedicated to these technical details. But learning how to follow an efficient schedule, and banishing pseudo-work from your college experience for good, is a crucial first step toward your academic overhaul.

To accomplish this transformation, however, you will need to gain control over your lifestyle-and that’s often no small task. For example, you will need to spread out the intense work sessions so that you have time in between to recharge. This requires basic time-management skills. You’re also going to have to overcome your urge to procrastinate, because scheduling your work is meaningless if you don’t actually work in the time you set aside. This requires self-motivation. Finally, to obtain the highest possible levels of intensity, you need to choose the right locations, times of day, and durations to study. If you aren’t careful about how you select these three factors, you can unintentionally sabotage your ability to focus. This requires a smart planning strategy.

Part One will teach you how to satisfy these requirements. It begins with the presentation of a simple time-management system, customized for the busy college lifestyle. Don’t be frightened, the system is incredibly lightweight-it’s designed to require only five minutes a day of planning and can survive periods of neglect. Part One then continues with a collection of battle-tested strategies to help you fight procrastination. This advice comes straight from the experiences of real students and has been proven to work amid the chaos and distractions of the typical undergraduate lifestyle-it is simple, easy to apply, and surprisingly effective. This part concludes with a discussion of when during the day, where on campus, and for how long to study to maximize your productivity. The students interviewed for this book experimented extensively to find the right answers to these key questions, and, in this final step, I pass these answers on to you.

Together, these basic skills are the foundation upon which all the advice in this book is built. Without them, you’ll be unable to implement the specific study techniques described in the parts that follow. Master them, however, and you will experience improvements in all aspects of your life-not just grades. You’ll have more free time, you’ll get the sleep you crave, you’ll party harder, and you’ll be able to devote more energy to your extracurricular interests. So relax. You are about to take your first step toward a much more enjoyable and productive college experience.

Step 1 : Manage Your Time in Five Minutes a Day

Real straight-A students, like most reasonable students, hate time management. After all, college is supposed to be about intellectual curiosity, making new friends, and becoming obsessed with needlessly complicated drinking games. An overwhelming interest in time management is best left to harried business executives (or, perhaps, premeds). At the same time, however, you can’t abandon all attempts to keep tabs on your schedule. As mentioned in the introduction to Part One, all of the techniques described in this book require some ability to control your schedule. Ignore this skill, and you doom yourself to four long years of playing catch-up with your work. As Doris, a straight-A student from Harvard, states: “Time management is critical-it’s a skill that you absolutely must develop over the course of your time at college.”

Most students, however, misunderstand the purpose of time management-they believe it’s used only to cram as much work as possible into the day. But this is not the main motivation behind controlling your schedule. As it turns out, a little planning goes a long way toward reducing your daily stress levels. Having deadlines and obligations floating around in your mind is exhausting-it makes it impossible to completely relax, and, over time, can lead you down the path toward a breakdown. However, once you figure out what work needs to be done and when, it’s like a weight being lifted from your shoulders. The uncertainty vanishes: When you work, you can fully concentrate on the assignment in front of you, and when you relax, you can do so without any anxiety. “I don’t believe in giving up anything,” says Jenna, a straight-A student from Princeton. “Not my social life, not my extracurricular activities, not my academic success.” Basic control over your schedule breeds balance. This is why time management, as Doris stated earlier, is the key to getting the most out of all aspects of your college experience.

The goal of Step #1 is to present a time-management system that helps you achieve this stress-free balance without requiring you to sacrifice the spontaneity and excitement of college. Specifically, we present a system tailored to the typical undergraduate lifestyle that meets the following criteria:

We will cover the details of this system in a few simple steps and then conclude with a detailed case study so you can see how it works in a realistic setting.

What You Need

This system requires two pieces of equipment.

The Basic Idea

Record all of your to-dos and deadlines on your calendar. This becomes your master schedule, the one place that stores everything you need to do. The key to our system, however, is that you need to deal with your calendar only once every twenty-four hours. Each morning, you look at it to figure out what you should try to finish that day. Then, throughout the day, whenever you encounter a new to-do or deadline, simply jot it down on your list. The next morning, you can transfer this new stuff from your list onto your calendar, where it’s safe. And we’re back where we started.

That’s it. Pretty simple, right? The whole system can be summarized in three easy steps: (1) Jot down new tasks and assignments on your list during the day; (2) next morning, transfer these new items from your list onto your calendar; and (3) then take a couple of minutes to plan your day.

Now, we’ll examine these steps in a little more detail. In particular, we need some strategies for how to plan your day each morning using your calendar and what to do when unexpected events interfere and turn that plan upside down (trust me, this will happen more often than not).

Update Your Calendar Each Morning

This is where the magic happens. Every morning, spend a few minutes to update your calendar and figure out what you should try to accomplish. This is the only serious time-management thinking you have to do for the whole day, so the demand is pretty reasonable. This updating process should proceed as follows:

Find your list from the day before. It will probably look something like the example described in Figure 1. Don’t worry too much about how this list is formatted; we will discuss that shortly. For now, focus on the “things to remember” column, which contains the new to-dos and deadlines that were jotted down throughout the day.

Transfer these new items onto your calendar. Write the deadlines on the appropriate dates, and write the to-dos on the days when you plan to complete them. Following the example of our sample list, you would first jot down the econ study group time under Thursday’s date and the French quiz under Friday’s date. You would then choose a day to do laundry and jot down a reminder under that date, and choose a day to start internship research and jot down a reminder under this date. You can move these items around on your calendar as many times as you want, so don’t worry too much about which date you initially choose for a new to-do. However, try to use some common sense. For example, if Wednesday afternoon and evening are packed with meetings and work, this might not be the best day to schedule doing your laundry. Similarly, if you have a big test Monday morning, don’t schedule a lot of annoying errands for Sunday; you’ll need your concentration for studying. If something is not especially time sensitive, such as the internship research example from above, don’t be afraid to put it on a day far in the future, at a point when you know you will be less busy-such as right after midterms or at the beginning of a new semester…

How to Become a Straight-A Student Summary

1-Sentence-Summary: How to Become a Straight-A Student gives you the techniques A+ students have used to pass college with flying colors and summa cum laude degrees, without compromising their entire lives and spending every minute in the library, ranging from time management and note-taking tactics all the way to how you can write a great thesis.

Read in: 4 minutes

Favorite quote from the author:

Audio Summary

Listen to the audio of this summary with a free reading.fm account:

Cal Newport‘s message to the world has increased in gravity as he’s traversed his own career path. How to Become a Straight-A Student is the second book he wrote and it focuses on how students can ace college.

His fourth and fifth book, for example now deal with how to find and do great work, much later stages of your career. If you’re still in the early stages, then this summary is for you.

Cal‘s blog is called Study Hacks, its original purpose being to help students – and it still is, but has expanded a lot to other topics as well. Of course, these lessons will help you more if you’re in college, but I find they provide a good system for learning in general.

Here are 3 lessons to help you become a straight A student:

Do you have what it takes to be a straight A student? Let’s get your equipment ready with these hacks!

Lesson 1: Increase focus while studying, decrease frequency.

I’m 99% sure you already know this and you’ve heard it tons of times, but I’m also 99% sure that you’re still not doing it, so here it goes again: Study for less time, but be really focused when you study.

Last minute cramming, pulling all nighters and 14-hour workday may feel productive, but really just amount to a lot of what Cal calls pseudo-working, because your concentration takes massive hits from all the interruptions and constant energy drain.

The studies Cal looked at agreed on roughly 50 minutes being the ideal study session length. As long as you spend those 50 minutes on nothing but one task (e.g. studying flash cards or writing a paper), three of these level 10 focus sessions per day will get you just as far as ten hours spent with an average focus level of 3 (just making these up to compare).

The first part of the equation to make this happen is to ruthlessly prioritize and manage your time with a calendar that’s always available for you to update and that you strictly follow.

Part two comes down to eliminating distractions. No phones, Facebook feeds, web surfing or snacking!

Note: One of my longest blog posts ever shows you exactly how to eliminate 32 of the worst distractions you face every day.

Lesson 2: Keep a work progress journal to uncover your excuses.

This is really cool, I think Cal came up with it himself. It’s called a work progress journal and it’ll help you find and destroy the excuses you make in order to avoid your work.

Here’s how it works: Each morning, you write down your most important tasks, including classes you have to go to, exams you have to study for, homework you have to hand in and even chores like fixing the TV or doing laundry.

At night, you check off everything you’ve accomplished. Pretty standard, right? But now, you have to give an explanation for everything that didn’t get done.

You can bet that having to write down “I watched TV until 2 AM so I woke up groggy and couldn’t focus” for the third time really, really sucks and you’ll eventually show yourself that it’s always the same excuses that keep you from doing what’s important.

Since it’s hard to believe yourself when you say that “you really can’t change your late-night TV watching habits”, you’ll likely get tired of the excuse yourself after a while and procrastinating will become a lot less fun.

Lesson 3: Use the three P’s to move through exams smoothly.

When it comes to taking exams, even the most well-prepared mind can take a spontaneous vacation, leaving you in a panic because all of your hard-learned notes seem to have gone out the window. That’s why Cal suggests having a step-by-step plan in place for every single one, so you don’t allow anxiety to take over.

Cal’s recipe is called the three P approach and it includes:

In the planning section, you’ll simply flip through the entire exam, take stock of what questions you have to answer, and map out a quick order of how you’ll tackle the questions, as well as allot some time to each of them. Keep a ten minute buffer at the end though.

Then you proceed to answer the questions, starting with the easier ones. Tackling a hard one first puts too much pressure on you (there’s already enough of it thanks to the time limit), so get some quick wins to boost your confidence. After that you can move on to harder problems.

Lastly, use your last ten minutes (and any additional, remaining time) to proofread and correct any mistakes you find or add important information you previously left out.

It’s tempting to skip this last part and just finish early, but don’t. This kind of deliberate practice is what separates the average from the A student.

How To Become A Straight A Student Review

Everyone is different, which means every system you find has to be customized to your own needs. That said, I think what Cal describes in How To Become A Straight A Student is pretty solid and I find many of the techniques he outlines have worked for me in the past.

If you struggle with deadlines, procrastination, writing papers and showing up to class on time, this one’s for you!

Who would I recommend the How To Become A Straight A Student summary to?

The 15 year old high schooler, who can benefit from learning these techniques early, the 20 year old college freshman who does not want to spend two extra semesters, and anyone who’s already finished college, but wasn’t happy with their performance.

This book has an average rating of 4.8 based on 16 votes.