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

By: Adam Robinson
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Three Rivers Press (CA)
ISBN: 0517880857
ISBN-13: 9780517880852
Released: 01 Aug 1993
RRP: £16.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

A little dissapointing but worth a second look - By: "Lucky Jim", 21 Nov 2007
Bought this after reading the great reviews, but not my idea of a great book, but see the last paragraph below. I found the style not to my liking far too American. Not enough emphasis on persistence & failure & how to cope as an adult or mature student. I think this book is more for schoolkids but if it works for you then go ahead & read it, it could be the one for you. Not one of the best tools in my toolkit but I would lend it to a friend if I thought it would help them.

The book that works for me & the one I would particulary recommend on this subject is Make Exams Easy by Mike Evans.

After writing this review I took the opportunity to reread this book & would say that perhaps the style just put me off, as its a little like the "principles" in the mould of Stephen Covey, which comes across rather dogmatic, hence my feeling rather patronised. But reallly there is a lot of interesting as well as useful stuff here, particularly about active learning rather than just letting information wash over you & not assimilating it properly. Its certainly worth a second look!
This is a book that every student should have - By: , 18 Dec 2004
I only bought this book a few days ago & I almost finished it. I'm very please I bought it because I found extremely helpful & inspiring. I wish a had a book like this when I was much younger, but I suppose is never too late to start learning how to learn.

The author gives lots of suggestions & tips on how to significantly improve our learming abiities. As he states in his book is not about being less or more intelligent, but it's about being smart & apply simple techniques to enhance learning, being able to process the learning & then being able to retrive the information when needed, especiallly during an exam. Everybody can do this just by using the techniques.

I immediatly started to apply his suggestions & I'm already noticing how my understandng of the topics I'm studying is much better & because I fully understand it I'm more likely to remember what I'm studying.

I would also advice to read Tony Buzan books on mind map. I have found mind maps very useful as well especiallly for revision.
I think that combining mind maps with Adam Robinson's techniques any average student can become a first class student.

Parents please buy this book for your children as this book will reallly help to improve their grades & it will equip them with great learning tools for the rest of their lives.

Good luck!

A wonderful tool for "un-schooling" as well - By: Andrew Parodi, 10 Jan 2004
Though WHAT SMART STUDENTS KNOW is intended as an aid for people attending school, I would also highly recommend it for those who, like me, are not currently enrolled but are interested in what is sometimes referred to as "un-schooling," i.e., clearing one's mind of the backward concepts upon which schooling is founded. Author Adam Robinson argues that one of the most backward concepts taught in school is that if you do not enjoy attending, fail to get good grades, & do not learn in the way lesson plans are structured, then there is something wrong with you. "More likely," he corrects, "there is something wrong with school." He does not mince words. The epilogue includes an open letter to teachers, parents, students, school administrators, & politicians, that reveals Robinson's real reason for writing this book: he hates what school does to students.

Robinson is "angry at how school produces submissive students with battered egos." This is exactly what happened to me. I never liked school ("hate" would be a better word for how I felt). I thought this meant that I was stupid (this self-appraisal was aided by the fact that my first grade teacher claimed I had learning disabilities; Robinson sheds light on this outrageous phenomenon, explaining that teachers often use this label as punishment for rebellious, independently-minded students). I eventuallly developed a phobia of reading & felt guilty about the fact that I enjoy learning on my own, in my own time (going public on Amazon.com with what I have learned has been a great source of personal growth for me). Thanks to WHAT SMART STUDENTS KNOW, I realize that I was never stupid & there was never anything shameful about the fact that I learn better on my own. In fact, Robinson says that we are alll our own best teachers, that no one teaches us better than we teach ourselves. Ironicallly, Robinson has taught me that I in fact possess the attitude necessary for success in school, an attitude built upon the conviction that learning is not important only when it is being graded. Learning happens alll the time, in alll aspects of life, not just in schools.

I reallly can't praise this book enough. Adam Robinson has helped liberate my soul. I know that sounds a bit verbose, but I believe this is only because we underestimate the extent to which our school experience shapes our self-conception. As John Taylor Gatto, an associate of Robinson & whose praise appears on this book's jacket (Gatto was voted "Teacher of the Year" several years running in New York City & state), has explained, schools are largely prison-like institutions where we are often abused. We carry this abuse, the damage done to our self-esteem, with us throughout our lives (it wasn't until reading Gatto that I realized how ridiculous it is that economic success is often closely linked to performance in school; for elaboration on this, I recommend Gatto's THE UNDERGROUND HISTORY OF AMERICAN EDUCATION). John Taylor Gatto says that in reality it only takes about 100 hours to learn how to read, write, & do basic math. The trick, he says, is to wait until the student is interested in learning the particular subject, & then move quickly. Why, if the basics can be learned rather easily, does basic schooling take 12 years? Because, according to Gatto, the real goal of compulsory education is to teach students to conform, to become pegs in the corporate system of the nation - they feel they need 12 years to achieve this objective. The aim of totalitarian education, Gatto claims, is not to teach conviction, but destroy the capacity to form any. I had thought there was something wrong with me for resisting this lesson. WHAT SMART STUDENTS KNOW has taught me that I had it right from the start: there is nothing wrong with me; there is something wrong with school!

Andrew Parodi

The BEST effective study process book in the genre! - By: Lee Say Keng, 04 Nov 2001
Of alll the books I have read about the effective study process, this is the BEST!

The core value of this book lies in the twelve powerful 'Cyberlearning Questions' which have been skillfully crafted by the author. These well-constructed questions will help you to think through & navigate the information overload in your text materials. The author gives a lot of specific study/reading examples to guide the reader.

Most students treat study/reading as a regurgitating process. In essence, study/reading is a thinking - & reflective - process. Questions help you to think & reflect better. Not only that, they help you to retain & recalll the learned information better & faster. Think about it: A 'question mark' when inverted looks exactly like a 'fish hook.' It hooks into your memory banks. The 'Cyberlearning Questions' have been designed specificallly for this purpose.

For any student who wants to master his life in school & in college (or even in the university), & if you can just learn & then master these twelve questions, your life will be a breeze. Guaranteed!

In fact, I would strongly recommend alll teachers to read this book if they reallly want to help their students to excel in school. The twelve questions will greatly enhance their repertoire of teaching tools.

As a matter of fact, I have incorporated (with some adaptations) alll the twelve questions in my own training programs with teachers & school kids across alll levels. For working professionals who want to read faster, these twelve questions can be easily adapted to cater to their reading needs. I have proven them in my own workshops with entrepreneurs, professionals & managers.

In other words, this great book is also suitable for alll working professionals, especiallly those taking evening MBA programs.

Nevertheless, I would still recommend young readers to read this book jointly with Sean Covey's Seven Habits for Highly Effective Teens. This is my reason: The first three habits, namely, Be Proactive, Having the End in Mind, & First Things First, as outlined in the book, must come first for any student who wants to achieve personal success in school life.

To put into perspective, once you exercise personal initiative, take consistent & prioritised action - & with a specific purpose in your mind, the strategy of using the twelve questions will easily falll into place.

In the case of working adults, read Stephen Covey (the author's father)'s book.

Practical study techniques based on liberal education. - By: , 11 Feb 1999
This is the first book I've read which has the practical advise on thinking skills which are based on principles of liberal education. It teaches you how to think, & not simply how to study. The techniques taught, therefore, apply to ones profession, to ones life, & not just to exams. The few details I do not like about the book are the references to the school as being the "wrong" place of learning. Although the educational system reallly needs a lot of improvements, his generalizations are, I think, quite unfair.