CrypticMind 's Key Ideas from How to Become a Straight-A Student
by Cal Newport

• Keep a work progress journal, and every day record what you wanted to accomplish and whether or not you succeeded.
• When working, eat healthy snacks to maximize your energy.
• Transform horrible tasks into a big event to help you gather the energy to start.
• Build work routines to make steady progress on your obligations without expending too much of your limited motivational resources.
• Choose your hard days in advance to minimize their impact.

• Try to fit as much work as possible into the morning and afternoon, between classes and obligations.
• Study in isolated locations.
• Take a break every hour.

Step 1: Take Smart Notes

Step 2: Demote Your Assignments

Step 3: Marshal Your Resources

Step 4: Conquer the Material

Step 5: Invest in “Academic Disaster Insurance”

Step 6: Provide “A+” Answers

• 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.

• 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

✓ readings that only provided context

• 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.

• Figure out exactly what the test will cover.

• Cluster your notes for nontechnical courses.

• Build mega-problem sets for technical courses.

• 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.

• Eliminate the question marks for topics covered in class or from the reading that you don’t understand.

• 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 check and recheck your work.

Step 1: Target a Titillating Topic

Step 2: Conduct a Thesis-Hunting Expedition

Step 3: Seek a Second Opinion

Step 4: Research like a Machine

Step 5: Craft a Powerful Story

Step 6: Consult Your Expert Panel

Step 7: Write Without the Agony

Step 8: Fix, Don’t Fixate

• Start looking for an interesting topic early.

• Start with general sources and then follow references to find the more targeted sources where good thesis ideas often hide.

• A thesis is not a thesis until a professor has approved it.

• Find sources.

• Make personal copies of all sources.

• Annotate the material.

• Decide if you’re done. (If the answer is “no,” loop back to #1.)

• There is no shortcut to developing a well-balanced and easy-to-follow argument.

• Dedicate a good deal of thought over time to getting it right.

• Describe your argument in a topic-level outline.

• Type supporting quotes from sources directly into your outline.

• Before starting to write, get some opinions on the organization of your argument and your support from classmates and friends who are familiar with the general area of study.

• The more important the paper, the more people who should review it.

• Follow your outline and articulate your points clearly.

• Write no more than three to five pages per weekday and five to eight pages per weekend day.

• Solid editing requires only three careful passes:

– The Argument Adjustment Pass: Read the paper carefully on your computer to make sure your argument is clear, fix obvious errors, and rewrite where the flow needs improvement.

– The Out Loud Pass: Carefully read out loud a printed copy of your paper, marking any awkward passages or unclear explanations.

– The Sanity Pass: A final pass over a printed version of the paper to check the overall flow and to root out any remaining errors.