What Smart Students Know: Maximum Grades. Optimum Learning. Minimum Time.

by Adam Robinson

Successful students are not necessarily smarter than their less successful peers, they have simply mastered the art of efficient learning. Adam Robinson introduces high school and college students to an innovative approach that can help them achieve top grades while discovering the joy of true learning.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Self Help, Productivity, Reference, College, Unfinished

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 1993

Reviews

[Ikram · Rating 5 out of 5]

لماذا يتوفق بعض الطلاب دائما؟
هذا الكتاب يفشي أسرارهم المدهشة. ويوضح لك
كيف تصبح أنت نفسك طالبا ذكياً.
٠ اتقن طريقة تدريجية سوف ترشدك خلال عملية التعلم،
من أول واجب تكلّف به إلى الامتحان النهائي.
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٠ تمّ تأليف هذا الكتاب لطلاب المدارس الثانوية والجامعات،
وهو يضم مئات النصائح العملية من بينها:
- ما يبحث عنه المعلمون بالفعل عند تقييم درجة المقالات.
- خمس عشرة استراتيجية للاختبارات يمكنك استخدامها عند نسيان إجابة أحد الأسئلة.
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يحتوي الكتاب على مقدمة كيف تستغل الكتاب وبه خمسة أجزاء.
٠ الجزء الاول: كيف ينظر الطلاب الأذكياء إلى المدرسة؟
يغير الكاتب نظرتك للمدرسة إن كنت تريد ان تكون طالب ذكي ويعرض معتقدات ومبادئ الطالب الذكي.
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٠الجزء الثاني: كيف يتعلم الطلاب الأذكياء؟
وفيه اثنى عشر سؤال يطرحها الطلاب الأذكياء لتعلم أي مادة.
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٠الجزء الثالث: كيف يتناول الطلاب الأذكياء المواد المختلفة؟
فيه أساليب الشرح والتفسير وآليات حل المسائل.
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٠ الجزء الرابع: كيف يحرز الطلاب الأذكياء درجاتهم؟
يجد الطالب كيفية استعداد الطلاب الأذكياء للاختبارات وكيف يخوضون الامتحانات؟.
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٠الجزء الخامس: كيف يربط الطلاب الأذكياء جميع الأجزاء معاً؟
عبارة عن حوصلة .
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الجميل في الكتاب أنه غير تقليدي وأسلوبه رائع
يضم الكثير من الأمثلة والاقتباسات ، ليس هذا فقط ، بل تدريبات أيضا �
بالاضافة إلى أن الكاتب رائد من رواد التعليم في العالم ، ومبتكر طريقة ثورية لخوض الاختبارات، مثل اختبار القدرات المؤهل للجامعات.

[Polly Callahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too lengthy with too many detailed lists of advice to be terribly useful to a college student. Most students seem to struggle with time management and so would not have time to get through this whole book. They also would not be able to internalize many of these strategies, so they would have to keep pulling it out as a manual. This is almost like one of those detailed diets that gets scrapped because it is too complicated for everyday use.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not think this book is a very good or useful one. The bulk of Robinson's technique involves his "12-question" method, an approach to assignments which goes through twelve questions to help illuminate the student. This method is garbage. Any college student worth her salt can tell you that there is simply not enough time in the day to do this crap for every assignment - it's insane!

This book may be good for high school students or those struggling in school, but I can't see the benefit in teaching students clunky, time-sucking learning algorithms.

[Juliette Delforge · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book changed my studying career... for the worse. That isn't entirely the book's fault. In fact, I gave it three stars because it makes excellent points. But it really tapped into my perfectionist nature and I struggled to keep up with classes because I was so obsessed with learning the material "right." So, here's a story of my experience trying to use the book's methods. I'll explain why it didn't entirely work for me and then suggest how to alter the method to better suit a realistic full-time college student's schedule.

The main problem here is that the description "minimum time" is so wrong it's actually laughable. This book asks for thorough and time-consuming methods of learning which work really well if you're able to devote the time necessary, but I'm not sure any student, high school (many subjects) or college (hard subjects) can spend that much time on their studies. Keep in mind that I'm assuming that you're treating school as your full-time job... forty hours a week.

I tried really hard to use the methods in this book in a college organic chemistry class I knew would challenge me. Now, right off the back I struck off the method "going to class and doing the assignments is never enough" because this teacher assigned so much work. Mind you, none of it was actually due, but it was also impossible to get through all of it even if you weren't using particularly thorough and time-consuming methods.

...I couldn't do it. It took me 3 hours to read a section. There were about five sections assigned every week, so that's 15 of my 40ish hours. Then there were the practice problems. About 75 problems a week at 15 minutes a problem gets you another 19 hours, total 34. And that's one four unit class. Even without attempting any extra work, I couldn't follow the method without ignoring my other two classes (a fairly light course load.)

Since I struggle with perfectionism, I tried to do everything thoroughly anyway and fell behind. At the end, I dropped the class, but I'm not blaming the book for that.

If you do intend to be an A to A+ student, modify the book's advice to fit you and follow it closely. If you don't, then forget it. This isn't the book for you. It's simply asking too much.

Here is how I would modify the book's method: cap your study time. Assume that 12 units is a full course load--40 hours, or 3.5 hours per unit (most college students do not do this much.) Increase or decrease as needed. Modify how much relative time you're devoting to each class based on perceived difficulty based on your strengths and weaknesses (I found my 5-unit general ed classes so much less time consumig than this 4-unit chem class that.) Subtract class time from the total. You're left with the amount of time you have to study. For my chem class: 4 units times 3.5 is 14. Move over a couple of hours from my easier classes and I'm left with no more than, say, 17 hours to devote to this class, minus the 4 hours in lecture/discussion, leaving 13 hours of independent study. So I skim and skip until I can fit my studying into that time and then accept how far I've gotten.

[Jeanne Gehret · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son who is a dyslexic Ph.D. student gave me this, saying that it explains a lot about the way he has re-taught himself through almost every subject. Really shows you how to take apart material to be learned and put it back together again in a format that you understand and remember. In addition to the great information, it also has a very attractive and user-friendly format.

[Aaron Fk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a real eye-opener for me and brought a whole new way to study and remember than I had before. Mr. Robinson really tapped into the method that the straight-A student (the mega-learner) knows intuitively. It will take a lot of practice to change your habits, but its worth it.

He gives practical advice as opposed to educational theory. He starts with comparing the attitudes of regular learners and mega-learners. He then moves to the methods by which each student learns. He calls regular learning the old way and introduces a new way called CyberLearning; the method of the mega-learner. After introducing the cyberlearning method he demonstrates how to apply it to lectures, textbooks assignments, and to the different subjects typically learned.

He divides his learning method into 12 questions. These 12 questions help the student to rearrange the way of receiving and processing information so that it can be easily retrieved and retained.

I read this book a couple of years ago and I am still working on mastering it. It's a whole new way of thinking. Like any new skill it has to be practiced and the old habits die hard (which is my difficulty), but with constant practice I believe that anyone can achieve like the mega-learner and become, if not a straight-A student, then a member of the honor roll.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to read this as a way to help me think about teaching my own classes, including AP classes. I have gotten some very good ideas from the book. I now need to plan out how to incorporate those into my teaching. A lot fo this material I did not ever learn in high school. These are mainly things that I developed as tools while I was in univeristy in both undergraduate and graduate school.

I would strongly recommend this book for any student in high school, or in upper middle school. I see too many who enter high school with no focus on what they are doing, or where they are going. They make too many errors with their classes and end up being just barely mediocre students. With a book that is easy to read, as this one is, they might just find a way to "blossom" and to become very good, or even great, students before they exit from high school.

[Aisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody can teach you better than you can teach yourself. - Smart Student's Credo (Became one of my personal credos)

[Marilyn Roxie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend that this book be read when one's course load in high school or college is lighter or while on vacation from school, if you plan on really carrying out some of the exercises and absorbing the information. Picking this up as a last-minute resort when you have an exam coming up is probably not going to help you much because you won't have a chance to be methodical about implementing its strategies.

I was interested in reading this book not so much because I needed help in becoming a "smart student" but because I was curious about whether this book suggested some of the techniques that I have already been using for quite some time. I had been an independent study student (using a hybrid at-home / meet-with-teacher-once-a-week model) from 2nd grade until I graduated early as a junior. I think being a successful independent study student helped prepare me for college in that I had to learn how to do some of the very things the book repeatedly recommends as essential, particularly critical thinking and teaching yourself about a topic (including seeking out supplemental materials) when a textbook or even the teacher is not enough.

The most important parts of the book are as follows, if you're planning on skipping to the "good stuff".

The Smart Student's Credo lists 12 principles that prepare one's mind-set for being a self-sufficient student and for changing your outlook on learning, such as "Not everything you are assigned to read or asked to do is equally important" and "Few things are as potentially difficult, frustrating, or frightening as genuine learning, yet nothing is so rewarding and empowering."

Reading CyberLearning: The Twelve Questions and all of the accompanying chapters that detail these questions is the most essential part of the book. When you first look at this list, you might think to yourself "wow, I have to go through all of that every time I sit down to read a textbook or complete an assignment? It really doesn't work that way, and the author will tell you at some point that not all of the questions always apply. Think of them as tools to get your mind going in more exciting directions than rote memorization and slogging through a boring text. Strategies like "how can I organize this information?" and "what's my hook for remembering this information?" are particularly invaluable for doing well on tests. Taking smarter notes, in particular, comprises a large part of this book, so if this is something you were struggling with, I really recommend polishing up your notes as the author suggests.

There are some examples throughout the book of a fictitious student named Johnny and his notes and assignments compared with how a smart student would handle them for the subject of geology, along with some accompanying exercises. If you are reading this book during a school semester, rather than on vacation, I would recommend skimming through these and taking note of the obvious differences between the two and then incorporating the suggestions into the work you are doing in your classes rather than doing the exercises separately.

Also, I felt the author fell short on the How Smart Students Approach Different Subjects section. Some major subjects are grouped into like categories: Type I (information, ex: anthropology, astronomy), Type II (interpretation techniques: art history, English), Type III (problem-solving techniques: economics, mathematics), Type IV (create, perform, or communicate: creative writing, foreign languages). Please note that the author does not cover Type IV topics and techniques at all. His section on interpretation techniques, which goes over literature using the example of Romeo and Juliet is very involved and excellent - if you previously felt lacking when it came to engaging with literature critically, I don't see how that could continue after digesting this section when you have these great questions and models to engage you with the material. The mathematics section is grossly over-simplified and uses a very easy word problem model to play around with, along with the Pythagorean Theorem. I felt like I gained nothing from this section and would be better off consulting a dedicated book about mathematics to develop this area.

The test-taking section is rather solid and includes plenty of hints for scenarios like what to do when you're running out of time, as well as how to select what questions to answer first or how to integrate knowledge from other class areas when you can't answer the exact question in front of you. How Smart Students Write Papers is also helpful for the most part, with a step-by-step process on drafting and finishing clearly detailed, although I think they could have used a much better paper as an example. The writing of this sample paper is too casual and uses too many similar sentence patterns.

Lastly, I think the time management system could have been fleshed out better. Some of the ideas are actually just awful, suggesting a total of three calendars (one for classes, one for assignments and general affairs,and one for major papers and tests) in addition to a daily to-do list. I think ONE calendar and a to-do list should suffice.

Another distressing point is how, in the vocabulary section, there are two glaring errors: "By the way, he computer uses the same keyboard as a typewriter." and "I you the words you are most likely to encounter in high school and college." Of all the places to have obvious mistakes...

Also, this book was published in 1993 and sometimes it really shows, although word processors are mentioned. If it was published today, it would definitely have practical as well as cautionary tips about the Internet. Still, I think that's no excuse for suggesting that an already harried student use three separate physical calendars to manage their academic and personal life!

As someone who has already gotten typically good grades, rarely less than an A in most classes except for mathematics, I have been very selective about what techniques in this book that I think will be helpful and which ones I can throw out. Some of his suggestions on improved note-taking, exams, and essay layout will be of use. Everything else either I already knew or doesn't really work for me.

Remember, if you try something in this book repeatedly and it still isn't working for you, you should probably discard it and try something else. For example, his tips about drawing diagrams and picturing material don't work for me, and absolutely never have. It is much easier for me to learn by logically thinking through or writing out the information. If diagrams work for you, great - go for it. But if you know they don't and you give it a try again and the results are still the same, don't feel tied to these tips just because they are supposedly what "smart students" do. The author is encouraging you to think critically anyway - pick and choose what works.

[BookTalk · Rating 3 out of 5]

WHAT SMART STUDENTS KNOW – ADAM ROBINSON

Adam Robinson protracts “ What Smart Students Know”. Owing to the lack of density it loses some of his usefulness for me. I decided to try some of the advices he mentioned throughout the book. Although I'm not sure if they will work for me. We will see.

[Christian Jespersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of What Smart Students Know

This is a book every parent should read to understand school better, to help their struggling teeage students. It is also a book every student should read before attending secondary and read again before going to university. Here is why.

I didn’t do well in secondary school. And I only did mediocre in elementary school, as well as university. I was always puzzled why there were some some students, who got straight A’s, but didn’t seem to be too bright on a generally. I was puzzled by this until the age of 32, when I read this book - What smart students know. Of course I had gathered a much greater understanding of the difference between high and low-mark students. But it wasn’t until I read this book that I finally got why, and why I did not do as well is school, as I wanted to.

Ask better questions

It is a misconception and misunderstanding that everybody are born learners, when they have their first day or 1.000 day in school. It is also wrong to think that every teacher can teach, and the curricular is the best way to teach students about a specific subject. But those three key points are not presented to students. A big problem that Adam Robinson highlight, as you have students, anxious at school because they think, there is something wrong with them, rather than the teacher, teaching material and teaching approach.

Before students come to that realization, they have to go through some phases where they ask themselves the wrong questions. They sounds something like: Am I stupid? Why don’t I get this? Why do other students get this stuff?

Sneaking up next, is an realisation and perhapt acceptance that you are stupid, or daft, because that is what it says on paper . You are being marked (and thereby branded) as stupid. Only it spelled with an F. Short for failure.

Students who haven’t anyone to talk to about this, or ask if maybe it is the system, will have a very tough time in school - just like I did.

Thankfully this book has not just arrived. It has been around for many years. Only it seems that no student knows about, not any teacher do, or at least would admit to do. And the reason is obvious. It is diminishing the value of the school system. But I don’t find that students would think any less of school, but rather be able to cope with better, if they had access to this book, which can be bought online. It is not a hard book to find.

This is a book for students and parents

“What smart student knows” is cleverly built up around twelve rules on how to be better in school. Be better to learn and understand more. The end result, which is not the most important part, is better grades.

The book asks and answer all the questions students who struggle in school need to ask themselves. Not knowing the answer is frustrating, but not knowing the answers, or that you need to ask yourself questions, is much worse.
E.g. the books teaches you to survive a mind-numbingly boring text. How to approach new knowledge. How to organize the new knowledge. These, and many other questions, are being asked and answered.

I am 32 and hold a master’s degree in communication. I have both read the book- and taken the online course “Learning how to learn”, and I still found new information about learning in “What Smart Students Know”, though I am an avid reader about learning.

If I didn’t about it, how do we expect kids, teenagers and uni students to have this information?

We could overcome the anxiety and stress many students have, and let them know that it is not their fault they are struggling, by teaching them about the thoughts behind this. The best teacher would probably be parents.

I sure wish my parents had this book, and shared the information when I went through the three years of struggle and constant defeat in secondary school. And I sure wish that I had read it myself back then, but also before starting at uni.

1 % outdated. 99% relevant

The book is not all up to date. Adam Robinson elaborates on the importance of using pens rather than pencils. He also states the importance of saving your text on a floppy disc. Something most uni-students will have no idea what means. And finally, whether you should invest in a computer.

I did not find these advices annoying or dumb, but quite amusing to read. They used to be relevant. I guess it is fair to say, they aren’t really anymore. But the main principles of the book, are more relevant than ever. Never before have we had this many stduents and academics, amongst who a frightingly large percentage suffers from angst, depression and stress spawned from academic frustrations.

This is a book I can highly recommend anyone going to school to read. And if you feel like you don’t have time to read it, as one reviewer said, then wake up one hour earlier and unsubscribe from Netflix for a month. The knowledge you will learn, will have you study less, and actually make time.

[Shane Orr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the gimmicky title, this is actually filled with great advice and a systematic approach to learning and doing well in the classroom. It was written in 1993, so some references to floppy disks and word processors have to be overlooked. There are great tips on how to study and prepare for exams, how to write an essay, and even how to select classes. All of this is geared towards high school or college students. I wish I would have read this back when I was in school, but how many students would read a book like this? If you have motivated students, I highly recommend this book.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives a lot of good advice about how to take notes, study, and take tests. Some of it is a bit overwhelming. If you took his advice word for word and answered every question he asks for every reading assignment, it would take forever! But the basic premises are good:stay organized; Try to understand, rather than just memorize rote facts; spread out the learning rather than cramming just before the test.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

As more and more adults head towards continuing education, more books on the subject of study are necessary. I found this one before heading back to school. The basic principal is to question everything and determine what you already know as opposed to what you want to learn. I think?

[Umair · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is written an adult who seems to have been disconnected from high-school and college-level learning for a good while. The book is essentially comprised of inefficient and time-consuming tips and techniques that COULD work, but don't seem worth the effort.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book before high school. I read it again before college. It's coming with me to college. Recommended? Absolutely. :)

[Lucille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information and very useful for gathering material for students and workshops.

[Ahmed Buhassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tells you a good way to study & ace different types of subjects and exams

[Nor Riad]

I WANT TO READ IT -_-

[Timeo Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book is about 15 years old, but the principles and examples used in this book remain relevant.
This book begins with an interesting "axiom." That attitude is the most important trait necessary to learn well and get awesome grades.

Termed "cyberlearning," Adam goes into the attitudes smart students adopt towards learning and school, as well as 12 principal questions that all students should apply while learning.

1. What's my purpose for reading this?
2. What do I already know about this topic?
3. What's the big picture here?
4. What's the author going to say next?
5. What are the "Expert questions"?
6. What question does this information raise for me?
7. What information is important here?
8. How can I paraphrase and summarize this information?
9. How can I organize this information?
10. How can I picture this information?
11. What's my hook for remembering this information?
12. How does this information fit in with What I already know?

The book also recognizes that the method of learning for each class is different. Therefore, all subjects are classified into the three groups: Type 1, Type 2, Type 3 and Type 4. Type 3 is problem solving/analytical - ENGR, Chemistry, Physics, Math, for example.

I will apply the techniques given, and update the Goodreads community with my results.

[Topkek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather lengthy book with a lot of details and some hidden gems, nothing ground breaking, but good enough for 4 stars. The problem with it is, that it is severly outdated on some things and it kind of misses conveying the Big Picture and rather focuses on attitude. Sure it is important to have a positive attitude, but I think it's very clear that if you don't want to learn you aren't going to learn, as easy as that.
However I like the note condensation strategy and the approach to organize and regroup things. Comes in handy for important exams where you really have to grind through every detail.
Also the recommendation to work on ones vocabulary everyday is a hidden gem.

[Muhammad Jabran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any branch of knowledge has few mysterious core concepts. In order to unlock that mystery, you need to ask several questions and try to find answers. This is how knowledge grows and this is how you truly learn.
In this account, the author has clearly laid down the foundations of actual learning and its methodology.
He criticizes various aspects of old learning and the traditional way of schooling. Particularly their way of approaching any field of knowledge. It not only kills the enthusiasm but also makes the learning process almost impossible to comprehend.
This book is recommended to those who are true knowledge lovers and want to learn concepts in the true sense.

[Sigo Paolini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably as good a guide as you will get without reading Dr. McPherson's book on studying, which is more technical. His self-scoring tests are bunk because the whole of school is not learning but grades. It's a shame it mistates that. The basic 6 questions, Who What Where Why How and When he harps on the basis of analytical thought, journalism and study from the textbook. Using that with a Cornell notebook you will go far.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good ideas and a general framework to tackle learning situations

I read it due to an interview with the author on the Tim Ferriss show and I was expecting more than this

maybe if I haven't already read many books on the subject I would have enjoyed it more, in the present situation, a skim with some stops on the important aspects was enough for me

[Rex Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book remains as one of the most legendary learning guide ever written, by the famous educator Adam Robinson back in 1993. Although much of the information referenced throughout the book are outdated, the classic methods and philosophies will continue to motivate, inspire, and make learning easier for me as a high schooler.

[Magellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Kind of dense and difficult to apply, it takes a lot of time to use all the questions he talks about. Will be useful in some cases when I wanna go deep and serious about a topic. Won't make me save time in school though.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tips that could help someone.

[Mei Ru · Rating 5 out of 5]

<3

[Shourya Paranjape · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, wish I had read it while in school.

Although a book primarily written for children in school, some of the concepts described in the book are applicable to adults as well.

[Fred Ayres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, good advice. A few handy tips. I'm not sure, however, how feasible the advice will be to implement.