GETTING STRAIGHT A's by Gordon Green, Ph.D.
As school is about to start, I thought I should post a review of the BEST college "textbook" I've purchased, which is Dr. Green's Getting Straight A's.
I never took high school seriously, most likely because it was free, and there's something to be said of having to pay for something that makes it appear more valuable.
At any rate, when I started college, there was significantly less structure and less input on what is expected, as college affords tons more freedom, whereas high school tends to be spoon-fed to you. Therefore, I had no idea what I was doing, and wasn't doing well in my classes, which made me feel guilty as money was being thrown away.
I'm not sure how I came upon the book: if I found out about it after doing research, or if my friend showed me this book when we were both struggling with our classes, and told me how effective it was.
At any rate, when we both read this book together, it was a complete revelation; light bulbs were turning on, and angels were singing. The reason why this book is so successful is for four reasons.
The first is that Dr. Green understands how professors think. The concept behind his system is that your professors are presenting their entire life's work and passion, and if you parrot back exactly what they say on your paper and exams, they will give you an A, if not an A+. I can NOT emphasize how true this is! Since you're validating and showing your appreciation of their life's work, of course they'll shower you with praise and best grades.
Further, it shows to them that you are paying attention to them AND are equally passionate (after all you're memorizing everything they're saying), which further strokes their ego, especially if you further ask them questions to clarify.
When the tables were turned and I was teaching a class, it was so much easier teaching the same material to one particular class where the students were very enthusiastic who asked questions and were attentive, but extremely difficult and uncomfortable with another class where the students were not paying attention and were disinterested.
I can't impress how much I appreciated the first class, and I actually complained about how awful this second class is to my friends, constantly. We all have biases, and if you're an enthusiastic and respectful student, and your grade hangs in the balance between B+ and an A, your professor may give you the benefit of the doubt and give you an A. I know I will because I would think that you've put in a lot of hard work into the class, and deserve the higher grade.
At any rate, one comment on one of my college exams, which made me giggle, is a theory I wrote, which was literally verbatim what this professor said so many times, and he wrote (underlining the theory in question), "This is so brilliantly put, I never thought about that!", which he obviously has. I was not surprised that I got an A+ on this particular exam.
The second reason why this book is so successful is that it doesn't take a lot of time to do the system. I did NOT follow exactly everything the author recommended, but I still got A's. I do remember spending 1 hour a day of work, maybe a little more over the weekends (i.e up to two hours a day on weekends).
I distinctly remember that it was in fact just 1 to 2 hours because my friend and I were incredulous that her sister's boyfriend was studying "only six hours that day" instead of his usual 10 to 12 hours/day. We felt there's no way we can possibly study for 6 hours, not to mention 10 to 12.
The way to go about memorizing verbatim:
I'm not sure what the next details are, but if my memory serves me right, over the weekend, take all the index cards and memorize the answers. Do the reading for Monday. I believe you then take all the index cards, and memorize all of them a couple of weeks before the exam. Day before the exam, go over the cards again. Then spit out the exact wording on the exams and collect your A+.
The third reason why this book is so successful is that you don't have to be organized. I read other books of this kind to see if Green's book is truly the "best" on the subject. When I read what these other authors advise you to do, it was so complicated that I need an organizational flow chart just to follow their methods!
Envisioning myself doing this, I felt so overwhelmed and overwrought. They even discussed scheduling your hygiene while in college, which is ridiculous. If, by their methods, you don't have enough time that you have to schedule when to brush your teeth, you know they're doing something wrong.
The fourth and last reason as to why this book is the best investment you can make in college is that you DO end up learning interesting things with all this memorizing, yet you only spend at most 2 hours/day on studying, and you have the rest of the time to have fun (hopefully you don't have to work during college).
So it allows you to have balance in your life as opposed to following ridiculous, convoluted organizational systems of the other books. By having a balance, you'll enjoy your college life.
I didn't have any issues with writing papers, but I believe there is a sizable section in the book that describes how to write papers successfully and efficiently that's a good idea to go through, which I believe I did back then, but I forgot the details.
There's also a sizable section on how to read effectively as well, especially with liberal arts majors, the professors often give way too much reading. If you're taking math and engineering courses, in addition to the above, Dr. Green suggests doing as many problems as possible, perhaps even more than required, until you perfect your performance. I did very well in my Symbolic Logic class because I did every single question on the software, well beyond the homework requirements.
This book can be used successfully in high school and college, but I think with the amount of memorization that's involved in law and medical school, the book may not be as effective.
However, if you're a high school or college student, this book is a life saver! I know I tend to recommend borrowing books first and see if you find them helpful before buying, but in this situation, I would buy the book right now so you can read it before high school/college starts. Then, you can have the book with you during your school year to refresh and refer back to if you hit any stumbling blocks.
The How of Happiness Review
As school is about to start, I thought I should post a review of the BEST college "textbook" I've purchased, which is Dr. Green's Getting Straight A's.I never took high school seriously, most likely because it was free, and there's something to be said of having to pay for something that makes it appear more valuable.
At any rate, when I started college, there was significantly less structure and less input on what is expected, as college affords tons more freedom, whereas high school tends to be spoon-fed to you. Therefore, I had no idea what I was doing, and wasn't doing well in my classes, which made me feel guilty as money was being thrown away.
I'm not sure how I came upon the book: if I found out about it after doing research, or if my friend showed me this book when we were both struggling with our classes, and told me how effective it was.
At any rate, when we both read this book together, it was a complete revelation; light bulbs were turning on, and angels were singing. The reason why this book is so successful is for four reasons.
The first is that Dr. Green understands how professors think. The concept behind his system is that your professors are presenting their entire life's work and passion, and if you parrot back exactly what they say on your paper and exams, they will give you an A, if not an A+. I can NOT emphasize how true this is! Since you're validating and showing your appreciation of their life's work, of course they'll shower you with praise and best grades.
Further, it shows to them that you are paying attention to them AND are equally passionate (after all you're memorizing everything they're saying), which further strokes their ego, especially if you further ask them questions to clarify.
When the tables were turned and I was teaching a class, it was so much easier teaching the same material to one particular class where the students were very enthusiastic who asked questions and were attentive, but extremely difficult and uncomfortable with another class where the students were not paying attention and were disinterested.
I can't impress how much I appreciated the first class, and I actually complained about how awful this second class is to my friends, constantly. We all have biases, and if you're an enthusiastic and respectful student, and your grade hangs in the balance between B+ and an A, your professor may give you the benefit of the doubt and give you an A. I know I will because I would think that you've put in a lot of hard work into the class, and deserve the higher grade.
At any rate, one comment on one of my college exams, which made me giggle, is a theory I wrote, which was literally verbatim what this professor said so many times, and he wrote (underlining the theory in question), "This is so brilliantly put, I never thought about that!", which he obviously has. I was not surprised that I got an A+ on this particular exam.
The second reason why this book is so successful is that it doesn't take a lot of time to do the system. I did NOT follow exactly everything the author recommended, but I still got A's. I do remember spending 1 hour a day of work, maybe a little more over the weekends (i.e up to two hours a day on weekends).
I distinctly remember that it was in fact just 1 to 2 hours because my friend and I were incredulous that her sister's boyfriend was studying "only six hours that day" instead of his usual 10 to 12 hours/day. We felt there's no way we can possibly study for 6 hours, not to mention 10 to 12.
The way to go about memorizing verbatim:
- Do the reading beforehand, so you can follow what the professor is saying more easily. Attend EVERY single class and borrow notes if you're sick (or have a friend record the lecture as long as the professor allows for it) and take your own notes when you're feeling better.
- Sit in the very first row up front to prevent distractions, so you don't miss a thing. Take notes verbatim. Write down EVERY word that they're saying. I scored "Brownie points" when I missed something, and asked professors to repeat what they said. If you're still unclear, attend office hours to clarify things, which I abused.
- As soon as possible after class (preferably that very day, ideally in between classes if you have free time), write question on one side of index card, and then answer on the back side of the index card based on your notes.
- Ex. your professor said, "The best game is Dark Souls 1".
- Front side of index card: "What is the best game?"
- Back side of index card: "Dark Souls 1".
I'm not sure what the next details are, but if my memory serves me right, over the weekend, take all the index cards and memorize the answers. Do the reading for Monday. I believe you then take all the index cards, and memorize all of them a couple of weeks before the exam. Day before the exam, go over the cards again. Then spit out the exact wording on the exams and collect your A+.
The third reason why this book is so successful is that you don't have to be organized. I read other books of this kind to see if Green's book is truly the "best" on the subject. When I read what these other authors advise you to do, it was so complicated that I need an organizational flow chart just to follow their methods!
Envisioning myself doing this, I felt so overwhelmed and overwrought. They even discussed scheduling your hygiene while in college, which is ridiculous. If, by their methods, you don't have enough time that you have to schedule when to brush your teeth, you know they're doing something wrong.
The fourth and last reason as to why this book is the best investment you can make in college is that you DO end up learning interesting things with all this memorizing, yet you only spend at most 2 hours/day on studying, and you have the rest of the time to have fun (hopefully you don't have to work during college).
So it allows you to have balance in your life as opposed to following ridiculous, convoluted organizational systems of the other books. By having a balance, you'll enjoy your college life.
I didn't have any issues with writing papers, but I believe there is a sizable section in the book that describes how to write papers successfully and efficiently that's a good idea to go through, which I believe I did back then, but I forgot the details.
There's also a sizable section on how to read effectively as well, especially with liberal arts majors, the professors often give way too much reading. If you're taking math and engineering courses, in addition to the above, Dr. Green suggests doing as many problems as possible, perhaps even more than required, until you perfect your performance. I did very well in my Symbolic Logic class because I did every single question on the software, well beyond the homework requirements.
This book can be used successfully in high school and college, but I think with the amount of memorization that's involved in law and medical school, the book may not be as effective.
However, if you're a high school or college student, this book is a life saver! I know I tend to recommend borrowing books first and see if you find them helpful before buying, but in this situation, I would buy the book right now so you can read it before high school/college starts. Then, you can have the book with you during your school year to refresh and refer back to if you hit any stumbling blocks.
The How of Happiness Review
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