How to Become a Straight-A Student

by Cal Newport

  By the end of the day, she has received responses, of varying levels of detail, for most of her outstanding questions. She doesn’t feel great about her knowledge on these few points, but at least now she has something to say if it comes down to it.

  Monday—The Day of the Midterm

  Notice that while most of her classmates sacrificed the entire weekend studying, Julie did little more than send a few e-mails over the last couple of days, leaving her free to focus on her paper. Now that it’s the day of the midterm, she still doesn’t have much serious preparation pending. During the morning, she shuffles through her memorization flash cards a couple of times and dips into her quizzes at random, answering a half-dozen questions just to boost her confidence. She’s rested and ready to go.

  Finally, it’s time for the exam, and Julie knows exactly what to do. First, she zips right to the chronology section and makes quick work of the listed events. Her flash cards prepared her well. Then, she reviews the four essay questions that follow. She constructs a time budget and tackles the questions in order of difficulty. Her quizzes set her up well to provide thorough, standout answers without too much wasted time thinking about what to say next. She is able to draw from several sources for each question, and because the information is so ingrained in her mind from her earlier quiz-and-recall sessions, she often finds herself being able to recall arguments almost word-for-word from her notes. And because she outlines her essays, she provides answers that pull in as much relevant information as possible and cover all pieces of the topic at hand.

  The Aftermath

  Julie nailed the chronology section and provided detailed and complete answers to each essay question. Obviously, she gets an A. And this doesn’t at all surprise her. Later, when her friends, griping about their B exams, complain about how they spent all weekend “studying,” Julie kindly neglects to mention that she studied a grand total of one hour over the weekend and no more than a few hours on any given day before that.

  Case Study #2—Michael’s Calculus Exam

  Michael’s taking a calculus class and, as he’s quick to admit, he doesn’t like calculus. But, as is the case at most colleges, a semester of calculus is required, so Michael’s out of luck. The grade for this particular course is based on three exams and a bunch of problem sets. Let’s see how Michael uses our system to overcome his lack of a natural affinity for the mathematical arts and pull off a strong grade without too much suffering.

  Monday—Four Days Before the First Exam

  Yes, Michael’s first calculus exam is less than a week away. By this point, as you’ll recall, Julie was already well along in her preparation. But there are three things to remember here. One, this exam is not quite as big and as important as Julie’s midterm. It covers only a third of the material, and its contribution to Michael’s final grade is shared with two other tests and many problem sets. Second, sometimes (okay, many times) people have been known to allow exam dates to slip up on them. If you follow the advice from Part One, this should not happen to you often. But it’s important to see how the straight-A system can be adapted and applied even under these tight constraints. Finally, remember that Julie’s exam date fell on the same day as a paper was due, so she had to be more conscientious with how she spread out her work.

  Because math professors tend to be precise, Michael doesn’t need to ask about what the exam will cover. This information is spelled out in the syllabus. Specifically, the exam will draw from all material covered up until last Friday, which was when the professor handed back their last problem set.

  As you might imagine, Michael is somewhat stressed about the proximity of the exam. But this stress is mitigated significantly by his knowledge of our system. He knows that his next step is to marshal his resources, and that is what he is going to do tonight. Here’s how he proceeds:

  The upcoming exam covers the first four weeks of the course. Because Michael had one problem set assigned each week, he now has four graded problem sets to use as the foundations for his mega-problem sets. His first step is to extract sample problems from his notes to add to his existing graded problem sets. Following the strategy of Step #3, he grabs a blank sheet of paper for each of the four weeks of class. He then flips through his notebook and jots down sample problems from his notes onto the appropriate week’s sheet of paper. Note: Michael is careful to label each question with the date of the lecture where he found it. This will make it easy to look up the answers in his notebook when it comes time to review. Finally, he attaches each sheet to the corresponding problem set.

  When he’s done, Michael has four mega-problem sets, each consisting of one graded problem set assignment from class, and a sheet of paper filled with sample problems from his notes.

  His final act of organization is to think up some technical discussion questions. For example, during the first week, Michael’s class focused on single variable derivatives, so he jots down the following general question on his first mega-problem set: “Explain what a derivative is, what it describes, and the general procedure for calculating one when given a function.”

  Remember, these general explanation questions are crucial. Without them, you run the danger of memorizing specific problems but not learning the technique behind the problems, ill equipping you to handle the fresh problems you will face on the exam.

  Because he only has to cover four weeks of material, this process only takes about an hour to complete. Following our prohibition against organizing and reviewing on the same day, Michael calls it quits until tomorrow.

  Tuesday—Three Days Before the Exam

  Michael’s first class is at 11 A.M., so he drags himself out of bed at 8:30 A.M. to put in two hours of studying before his day really gets started. This is especially important because he has a busy afternoon and evening planned, and he is worried that he won’t have any other free time to study today. He also believes in our philosophy of trying to finish as much work as possible as early as possible, so this decision comes naturally.

  By 9 A.M., Michael has settled into one of his favorite secluded study spots—a deserted upper floor of a small engineering library. He has a bowl of oatmeal in his stomach and a cup of coffee at his side, so you better believe that he’s ready to work.

  It’s time to start the quiz-and-recall process. Michael tries to provide answers for each of the questions contained in his first mega-problem set. He uses a sheet of scratch paper and forces himself to jot down the important steps to each problem. For the technical explanation questions, he actually paces up and down the stacks, lecturing about the topics under his breath. After his first pass-through he takes a ten-minute break, then returns to tackle only the questions that gave him trouble. He continues until he has successfully answered every question. Because he is using the quiz-and-recall method, his focus is directed efficiently. He spends the most time this morning on the problems with which he has the most trouble and the least time on the problems he understands well.

  Wednesday—Two Days Before the Exam

  The exam looms two days in the future, and Michael has three more weeks’ worth of material to master. Realizing the potential urgency of this situation, he carves out two separate two-hour chunks of study for the day, giving him four total hours in which to work. The first chunk is in the morning, the second in the afternoon. The break in between will help Michael’s brain recharge and prevent this task from becoming too mentally draining.

  As before, it takes Michael most of the first two hours to get through his second mega-problem set. Once again, several passes were required, each one focusing on fewer and fewer problems.

  That afternoon, Michael knocks off the third mega-problem set during his second two-hour block. In fact, because this material is more recent, he is able to finish in just an hour and a half. Michael doesn’t try to cram more work into this newly discovered free time. He has accomplished what he had hoped for the day.

  Thursday�
��One Day Before the Exam

  Michael feels good. Yes, the exam is tomorrow. But he has already applied the quiz-and-recall method to three-fourths of the material that he needs to learn. While many of his classmates have set aside this entire day (and probably night as well) for cramming, Michael, on the other hand, once again schedules only a couple of hours in the morning.

  It takes him a little over an hour to complete his final mega-problem set (this material was covered just last week in class, so it’s still fresh in his mind), and with the remaining time he goes through his notes to retrieve the handful of question-marked topics that evaded his efforts, as spelled out in Step #5, to explain them before the study process began. For each of these questions, Michael reduces his confusion to a set of concise statements along the lines of: “I don’t understand the fourth step in the following problem from the 9/28/05 lecture notes…” He then e-mails a friend in the class (someone who happens to have more natural math ability than Michael), asking if he can stop by to talk about the material. The friend agrees.

  That night, Michael stops by his friend’s dorm room. Not surprisingly, the friend is bleary eyed, surrounded by piles of notes, and just finishing the first several hours of what will undoubtedly become a late-night cram session. They discuss Michael’s specific questions and clear up most of his confusion. The friend makes some comments about how brutal the studying will be, and Michael nods in agreement—choosing not, for the sake of their friendship, to mention that he hasn’t even so much as looked at a calculus textbook since early that morning and has no intention of looking at one for the rest of the evening.

  Friday—Day of the Exam

  If a practice exam had been available, this morning would be a great time for Michael to tackle it. Refreshed and prepared, Michael would have found the experience a confidence booster and a final check for any techniques he might have missed in his systematic review.

  Because no such practice exam exists, Michael creates his own. Setting aside forty-five minutes in the morning for a final review, Michael articulates out loud the explanations that he learned last night for his question-marked topics. He then goes back over a handful of the hardest problems from his mega-problem sets, solving each one with ease. This boosts his confidence and puts his mind in the right state. That’s it. He’s ready to go.

  When the big moment arrives, and the exams are finally handed out, Michael knows exactly how to proceed. He first sorts the questions in order of difficulty and then constructs a time budget. He gets off to a good start, providing solid answers to the easy problems that he tackles first. Soon he is left with only a small number of tricky problems and a solid block of time in which to solve them. He begins work on the first of these hard prompts but quickly finds himself stuck. He’s having trouble finding a solution. Time marches forward. Incipient tinges of panic begin to nibble at his concentration.

  Michael realizes it’s time to step back. He takes a deep breath. Remembering the test-taking strategies from Step #6, he skips this problem and moves on to the next. He is able to get decent answers for the remaining hard problems. They aren’t great answers, but they demonstrate his solid understanding of the underlying techniques. Now, with only five minutes to spare, Michael returns to his nemesis. It’s still tricky. He still doesn’t know exactly how to solve it. But the pressure is much lower now. Because it’s the only problem left, Michael can rid his mind of the distraction of other questions. This is all that remains; even if he completely blanks and puts down nothing, the only damage done will be limited to one problem. That’s not so bad.

  With the intensity of the situation lessened, Michael can think more clearly. And, sure enough, he comes up with an idea of how to proceed. In the few minutes that remain, he carefully records some sensible steps toward a solution. It’s by no means a complete or perfect response, but it’s the best he can do under the circumstances.

  The Aftermath

  As is often the case, the problem that gave Michael so much trouble gave everyone else in the class trouble as well. Many of these other students, however, didn’t have the resources to stay cool under pressure (the resources, of course, being Michael’s test-taking strategies). Their consternation regarding this one devilish prompt led them to waste a lot of time, rush through the final problems, and make many careless mistakes. Michael, on the other hand, got credit for all of the problems that he knew and a good chunk of partial credit for the tricky problem. Because of the trouble his classmates had on this exam, his performance, though not perfect, was near the top of the heap. He receives an A.

  The lesson learned here is important. For technical exams, you can never guess how well you performed until you get your grade back. Problems that you couldn’t solve may have stymied everyone else as well. Therefore, you need to lose the high school mentality that 90 percent to 100 percent of the points gets an A, and 80 percent to 89 percent of the points gets a B, and so forth. In technical classes, it’s most likely that the professor grades on a curve, so that the top 15 percent of scores (no matter how high or low they are) get As, the next 20 percent get Bs, and so on. For example, I’ve taken more than one technical exam where the average score was hovering around 50 points out of 100, and a score of 65 merited an A. I’ve seen exam questions that not a single person in the class got right. And I once got an A on an exam where I left a problem blank that was worth 25 percent of the points. You never know what’s going to happen.

  This all leads to the following point: Never lose your cool. Michael did the right thing by ordering his problems according to their difficulty and then skipping past a particularly troubling one when it appeared. His goal was to get the maximum number of points possible, not to get every problem right. And the result was a strong grade.

  Part Two Cheat Sheet

  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 chec
k and recheck your work.

  Paper writing is hard, and, to some extent, this is unavoidable. A college-level paper requires you to sift through endless sources of information, identify insights, form arguments, and then translate the results of these efforts into clean, eloquent prose. In short, a good paper requires a good amount of serious thinking, and that takes time.

  Furthermore, this thinking can’t all be reduced to a simple system. In high school, you probably had a nice neat format that all papers could fit into—an introduction, which stated a thesis, followed by isolated supporting paragraphs, each providing one piece of evidence, and then finally a conclusion that reiterated the thesis. Those were the days! Unfortunately, this oversimplified system won’t work in college. The thinking required for a college-level paper is much more complex. A format that works for an Anthropology essay, for example, might be completely different from a format that works for a History research paper. A piece-by-piece presentation of evidence might be appropriate for one class, but multiple intertwined narratives might be better for another. Each assignment is a fresh challenge, and each demands a lot of attention and care.

  However, there is hope. Paper writing is hard, but the good news is that it doesn’t have to be as hard as most students make it. Let’s begin by taking a closer look at the paper-writing process itself, which can be broken down into three separate components:

  1. Sifting through existing arguments.

  2. Forming your own argument.

  3. Communicating your argument clearly.

  Most students approach paper writing by combining all three of these components into one drawn-out and bloated process. They sit down at their computer, stack up some sources, and then begin writing with only a vague idea of where they’re headed. Whenever their argument stalls, they flip through their sources until they find an interesting quote, they insert this quote into their document, and then let their argument continue in this new direction for a while, until it stalls once again—at which point, it’s back to the sources. This cycle of research/think/write continues slowly for hours as the paper is constructed, one painful paragraph at a time. As you can imagine, this process is incredibly draining. Each of the three components described above is mentally taxing, but to do all three at the same time is downright exhausting!