How to Study

by Ron Fry

How to Study, has gained immense popularity among students of all ages. Now updated and expanded for the information age, this "A-Plus" read includes areas such as how to create a work environment, excel in class, use the library, do online research, and much more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Education, Reference, Academics, Audiobook

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 1989

About the author

Ron Fry is a nationally known proponent for the improvement of public education and an advocate for parents and students, playing an active role in strengthening personal education programs. In addition to being the author of the best-selling How to Study series, which has sold more than 3,000,000 copies to date, Fry has written more than 30 other books in the areas of education and careers. He is the founder and president of Career Press, an internationally known independent publisher of trade nonfiction books.

Reviews

[Kamal · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Sekaie · Rating 4 out of 5]

عندما قرأت الكتاب للمرة الأولى كنت في المرحلة الإعدادية وقد استبد بي اليأس من قلة إنتاجيتي في المذاكرة، ولذا عندما وقع الكتاب بين يدي لم أتردد في الفراءة والتطبيق ، وكما يقول المؤلف في مقدمته إن تعلم كيف تذاكر يعني تعلم كيف تتعلم وللأسف فأنا من أولئك الكثر الذين ﻻ يعرفون كيف يتعلمون ولذا فإن هذا الكتاب يعد وسيلة ناجعة لتحسين أسلوبنا في التعلم ويعطينا الكثير من الأفكار التي قد تكون بديهية لدى البعض لكنها تخفى على آخرين.

عدت هذه السنة لقراءة الكتاب وما جعل إعادة قراءتي له ضرورية هي عودتي هذه السنة للدراسة الجامعية بعد انقطاع ، ما جعل التعامل مع الكم الهائل من المصادر ووسائل التعلم مشكلة كبيرة احتجت في حلها مجدداً إلى كتاب كيف تذاكر. لم يخذلني الكتاب مجدداً فقد قدم لي الكتاب عبر فصوله الثمانية سبﻻً للسيطرة على الوقت والمشاريع والامتحانات ، وكما في خاتمة الكتاب يقول المؤلف: (اقرأ هذا الكتاب من الغﻻف للغﻻف فالأمر يشبه مشاهدة فيلم سينمائي للمرة الثنية، حيث تجد دائماً شيئاً جديداً قد فاتك في المرة الأولى) فقد اكتشفت فعﻻً أفكار وموارد مفيدة ورائعة.

قد ﻻ تكون هذه المرةاﻷخيرة التي أقرأ فيها الكتاب ،فغالباً ما ألجأ لهذا الكتاب في كل مرة تواجهني صعوبات في السيطرة على دراستي، ولذا أنصح أي طالب بقراءة الكتاب فﻻبد أن يتسفيد منه في تطوير مهارات المذاكرة لديه.

[Ledi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nicest thing about this book is that it helps you as a parent to help your child. Too bad in school they don't teach kids how to study, but only What to study. I like the methods given and I found it helpful.
I'm making my daughter reading it during summer vacation, before she starts high school.

[mkh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got up to the "How to Use Your Library" and I gave up.

There is nothing earthshattering about this book. There is nothing you will learn that will truly help you than what teachers have already advised in class. The tips are extremely obvious and unhelpful. For example, the author rambles on about using the Dewey decimal system to find books in a library. While I agree this can be informative, is it really nescessary?

Anyways, for me, I found the book extremely boring to read.

I would not recommend this book to anyone.

[Adham Hussein · Rating 3 out of 5]

قراءة سريعة جدا ستفي بالغرض

[Arun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. I learnt a lot on how to study effectively from this book (many of which I gleaned organically with time but still good to get validated!). I wish I had a book like this during my high school days.

There were lot of 1 star ratings citing superfluous reasons - ignore them and give this books a chance. More importantly, put to practice what the book preaches.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I wouldn't say any of the information is revolutionary, there is something great about having so much information in just one book (Ron Fry says 8 of his books were compiled into two volumes, and this is volume 1: this one includes How To Study, Managing Your Time, Taking Notes and Acing Any Test). Thankfully, he does say the true test of any method is what works for you, but then points out that - if you're reading it - likely something's not working. Some of the information is dated (it was published in 1993 using books even older; the chapter on computers proved humorous in this context) but most stand the test of time.

I rated it low because it is hard to say you really liked a book that is nothing you've never heard before. However, the writing style is very easy to absorb and all of the information is there. You're not going to love this book (all it does is make you think of all the work you are going to have to do - he has tips to study smarter, but even efficient work is still work) but it is very clear about techniques you could try.

The best piece of advice (for me) was how Fry said that if you didn't understand the book, it can mean that you just don't understand that book: textbooks are not always written in the most understandable formats or language. He suggests getting supplementary material before you give up on a subject. I actually just ordered a supplementary book off of Chapters after reading a preview.

[Juniper · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author and his book lost ALL CREDIBILITY round page 50.

Ron Fry insists on information seeking (in libraries or on the web) and insists on the accuracy of that information, but does not seem really eager to apply his own advice in his own work...

This is probably why, around said page 50, Mr Fry quote a "famous French author, Georges Simenon". Breaking news for Mr Fry and his fans: Georges Simenon IS NOT FRENCH, BUT BELGIAN !! And, contrary to what a lot of American people think (and to what Mr Fry thinks, apparently, given this horror), Belgium is not part of France: it is an autonomous neighbouring country!!

I stopped reading that book at once. As a student, I'd rather read accurate guides and not crap that people wrote to earn a bit of money with bits of advice they do not even care to apply themselves when making their own research (but did the author made any reseach before writing? I mean, if you type "Georges Simenon" into Google, you immediately see that he's Belgian...)

[Donner Wetter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doesn't answer the question of "How do I study?" It tells when and where to study. The thing students generally struggle with is.. once you're in a well lit room on a chair at your desk with your books in front of you... what do you do?

So this book is useless if that's what you're trying to find out.

If you are an advantaged student looking for some general tips or if you're a parent with good income then this book may be of use to you.

For the great majority of students this book is useless.

[Lady Cheralynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In clear and concise language, the author puts forth common-sense strategy that is timeless and effective.

I call it a win

[J-mama · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably could have found most of the info here from a wiki how article

[Danilo Desgraves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where are the numbers?

This book is great for advice; however, it doesn't teach you a system of how to keep score of studying. It could have been more quantitative, with spreadsheets, baselines, and formulas. Like ball players, many students get excited when they see their stats.

Once again, this book has great advice. If you are scared of numbers, this book is excellent. It was a fun read. I would recommend it to young students.

The reason that I gave my rating is because education has become so competitive that parents and students demand to see improvement. I thought that this book would tell how to keep score.

[Lovett.nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indeed, you will learn how to study.

[Diyar · Rating 2 out of 5]

لقد انهيت هذا الكتاب ولله الحمد وانصح به للاشخاص الذبن لا يعرفون يذاكرون ويجدون صعوبة في المذاكرة وانا شخصيا لم استفد من هذا الكتاب الا القليل.

[Mark Surya]

going back to school, so a nice refresher. there’s a reason this wasn’t much help to me in hs, though.

[Arjun Saharawat]

Good

[Antor Chowdhury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, some obvious but useful advice.

[عبدالرحمن محمد · Rating 1 out of 5]

لم يضف الي اي شي جديد لقد أضعت 3 ساعات في قراءة هذا الكتاب

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK. Take Notes is better.

[Tomasz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bardzo dużo informacji nt. zdawania testów oraz jak się przygotować by poprawnie napisać wypracowanie. Tytuł moim zdaniem wprowadza w błąd. Książka to taki "wspomagacz" dla uczniów i studentów.

[David Glad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had the audiobook on my computer (references in content suggested early to mid-90s), so figured I would listen to it some days back.

Guess they've done new versions, so can't be too negative on the antiquated aspects of it. (Talking about ancient technology, including the card catalogs which I doubt any libraries have used in the past 10+ years.. considering a decent library lets you look up by isbn, author, title, title begins with, call number, etc.)

The main problem though is it tries to be all things to all people, so they're going between adult learners with kids (suggesting having television babysit them is lesser of two evils or having neighbors look after) while a moment later making high school references to people who barely (or don't) have driver's licenses that just seems weird. (Mentioning coffee in between!)

There are some useful ideas, such as seeing where 15 minute blocks of your time seem to disappear to each day (most of us would be scared by that, I am sure; consider it more practical than W Clement Stone's suggestion decades earlier of keeping track by 10 minute increments), using an empty classroom on campus to study (quite a unique idea), and perhaps predating David Allen's (Getting Things Done) suggestion of writing things down to clear your mind.

On a neutral note, the complete "How To Study Program" seems to have a repetition on some points/ideas which probably is negative if you stopped listening/reading for a time and are trying to figure out where you left off or feel like you're wasting your time rereading or they used it as filler. Positive if it helps reinforce ideas..

I would be somewhat curious how the newest edition differs, especially as they touch upon the topic of ADD ("Attention Deficit Disorder") in it and specifically state the jury is still out on whether it exists, hinting about psychiatrists who use it as a catchall and (inferring) drone lazy baby boomer parents who wish to medicate rather than having children develop. They also suggest it's just a cookie cutter formula for robots in an industrialized society that wants a standardized workforce.

Suppose if nothing else, this book would be a decent starter on exploring study habits if your library has it..

[Arlian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remembered really liking this book when I was younger, but I've found it wasn't as helpful as I thought it would be. It focuses a lot on skills I already have (that I probably acquired when I read this the first time around!). Essentially, this book is comprised of general rules about studying and less specific things to do while studying. There are a few good tricks: Pre-read a chapter by skimming the headlines or sections, if you have homework questions that correlate to a chapter that you have to read, read the questions first and as you come across the answer notate it, etc. Ultimately (and contrary to my expectations) I found "Study Smarter, Study Less" much more helpful for my current needs. It helps give you tricks to make your note taking and subsequent review easier and more fluid.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad - it gave a lot of ideas I hadn't thought of and refreshed ideas that I already knew of. I do like that he was very "real" about it though, as if to say, "look, here's what you can do but it's up to you to do it. I'm not going to hold your hand through it nor is anyone else."

My only suggestion would be to break the information up. I mean, what does a kid in grade 10 care about SAT tests? Have three different editions of the book: High School, University/College and Continuing Education/Online/Adult Learning. The people picking up this book are not going to be expert skimmers from the start so focusing the book on ideas that will help people in these three unique learning environments would be beneficial.

Whether or not it will be helpful I can't say just yet...but we'll find out this semester!!

[Luthfi]

saya beli buku ini yang edisi bahasa indonesianya. judulnya "Belajar Lebih Cerdas Bukan Lebih Keras" penerbit Bhuana Ilmu Populer (BIP)--sorry kalo salah ketik. bukunya bagus banget buat semua umur. tentunya yang masih minat belajar. apalagi buat anak SMA, buku ini cocok banget. walaupun ditulis dengan gaya khas penulis yang dari luar negri, tapi teknik2 di buku ini bisa diadaptasi sesuai keinginan kamu. di bab pertama kita akan tahu seberapa 'benar' belajar kita. apakah kita bagus dalam membaca dan memahami. apakah kita benar2 bisa mengatur waktu. apakah kita bisa menghasilkan karya tulis yang jempolan. dan lain sebagainya. buku ini udah best seller lho! terjual lebih dari 2 juta copy. pantes di Gramedia banyak banget. hehe...

[Stephy Jemmisparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guide has opened my eyes to a whole new world of organizing time and jotting down shorthand notes.the tips are so great, I advised my students to get a copy each.

The interaction with the book will bring about its own purpose, for Fry encourages everyone to interact with mentors(I didn't know I needed one) and interacting with our own textbooks and the lessons too.

It is one of those books i have never given away after many years, to read and reread and apply and re-apply.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was intended for high school students but college students and adult learners would benefit from it as well. Fry thinks it would be great for middle school students to learn these skills and get ahead but I think the book would be too advanced for middle school students. The study skill assessments were confusing because it had multiple measures of the same skills. Overall, I found a lot of practical tips on organization, reading, essay writing, memory, and test taking.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

“How to Study” is a great resource for students who want to use their time more efficiently when they are studying. Author Ron Fry breaks down his advice into eight chapters:

1. How to Start Out Right
2. How to Organize Your Studying
3. How to Read to Remember
4. How to Organize Your Time
5. How to Excel in Class
6. How to Research
7. How to Write
8. How to Study for Tests

These tips can be applied to students from middle school to graduate school.

[Thiago S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para ser relido de tempos em tempos por aqueles que estudam. Dependendo da qualidade do seu estudo e do seu bom senso, o livro será mais ou menos útil. Para mim foi uma leitura agregadora, com pelo menos meia dúzia de macetes/alertas que me servirão na prática. Poderia, no entanto, ser um pouco mais extenso e profundo.

[Huda Fel]

I read most of the chapters there, not all of them, quite useful. I may go back and read the rest.
Thanks "ToOta" 4 reminding me with this book and thanks 2 Dr.Nojood 4 she's the one who asked us to read it.

[Ahmad Ghadban · Rating 4 out of 5]

جيد ..

إلا أنه يحتوي على الكثير من التكرار والشرح المفصل الزائد عن الازم، واللغة المترجمة غير جاذبة للقراء،
بالنسبة للمعلومات فيوجد فيه كمية من المعلومات لا بأس بها كماً ونوعاً

أكثر من الربع يمكن تصفحه سريعاً لما فيه من معلومات بديهية