How to Become a Straight-A Student

What Hacker News says

1. 0xDEAFBEADDec 2023
   At my university the professors would record and upload all of their lectures. I would watch the videos at 1.5-2x speed, pausing/jumping back frequently whenever I started to drift off or anything was even slightly confusing, to think it through and ensure that I understood. I got way better comprehension that way.

   Another trick that worked for me: If there are high-quality lecture notes, download a note, set a timer for the length of the lecture, and aim to read through the entire note within the time period that it took to deliver the lecture. Being on the clock creates a little pressure that helps me focus. It's OK if I don't achieve 100% comprehension; I basically never achieve 100% comprehension during a live lecture anyways.

   The only problem with these techniques is that it's easy to fall way behind if you don't discipline yourself to consume lectures at about the same rate they're being delivered. Cal Newport's book How to Become a Straight-A Student has good tips like blocking out chunks of time during your week in advance to do study specific topics or do specific assignments.

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2. chilldsgnMay 2020
   I set a schedule every day for myself. In my diary, I set aside 4 hours a day for my university courses, segmenting them into 4 25-minute sessions. Don't overdo it, study smart, not hard. I also do a bunch of online courses on anything I am currently interested in and do one hour a day studying these. I read the book called How To Become A Straight-A Student by Cal Newport and it has given me some rather useful insights on how to study. I dunno, I guess personality type plays a role in the amount of discipline you have.

   I also work and do freelance work on the side as well as help my family with their businesses, so setting a schedule is important in my case, hope this helps in some way. If you know why you are doing all of these self-study things, it can also help you focus on the here and now. I recently learned of a term used in business management - obliquity: https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/obliquity-roundabout-route...

   "Obliquity describes the process of achieving objectives indirectly, such as the financial success that comes from a real commitment to business. And obliquity is ubiquitous - it can even be applied to happiness. "

   Rewards help too. Like, if you study for 25 minutes, get up and do something you like for 5 minutes, rinse and repeat.

   I use a personal Trello account to keep track of things. What works for me is to take a month, set aside a week and put about 5 learning outcomes into each week. I tend to get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I want to learn and do, so recognising when you're putting too much on your plate is a handy skill to learn.

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3. otterproApr 2017
   The article was brief and had some good advice, and it sets the issue straight of having priority of school over other activities. School is a full-time job and spending 40 hours/week should be expected. A lot of the advice are also just common sense.

   I also strongly recommend Cal Newport's book "How to Become a Straight-A Student" (https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Straight-Student-Unconvent...). I've read a lot of books on studying in college, but I think this one really is one of the best way to study.

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4. b_emeryNov 2016
   Your question seems to be more about learning than note taking, so here are some of my notes learning to augment what others have said:

   To aid recall, use the quiz and recall method: "The idea is to study by lecturing out-loud, to an imaginary class, about the key concepts you need to learn. Something about articulating arguments in complete sentences cements them in your mind like nothing else"

   from http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/08/02/the-straight-a-gospels...

   Also the book How to become a straight A student by Cal Newport is thin but packed with actionable information. Highly recommended.

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5. jshowa3Mar 2019
   There are lots of respected academics in computer science. Apparently he chose to spend his time writing 3 versions of the same book for money: How to Win at College (2005), How to Become a Straight-A Student (2006), and How to Be a High-School Superstar (2010). And he's by definition peddling. Not sure why you took offense to that and not sure where the "free" economy has any relevance to what I said. The irony is I could sum up in one page what all those books combined contain.
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6. NeradaFeb 2019
   I'm actually reading through his "How To Become a Straight-A Student" right now. Nothing particularly profound, but the task tracking method is definitely helping me stay on-top of college work while having a full-time job at the same time.
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