How to Study

There Are Other Study Guides
Though I immodestly maintain that my How to Study Program is the
most helpful to the most people, there are certainly plenty of other
purported study books out there. Unfortunately, I don’t think most of
them deliver on their promises. Inevitably, these other books promote
the authors’ “system,” which usually means what they did to get
through school. This “system,” whether basic and traditional or wildly
quirky, may or may not work for you. So what do you do if “their”
way of taking notes makes no sense to you? Or you master their high-
falutin’ “Super Student Study Symbols” and still get Cs?
How to Study
xvi

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There are very few “rights” and “wrongs” out there in the study
world. There’s certainly no single “right” way to attack a multiple-
choice test or take notes or write a paper. So don’t get fooled into
thinking there is, especially if what you’re doing seems to be working
for you. Don’t change what “ain’t broke” just because some self-
proclaimed study guru claims what you’re doing is all wet. Maybe he’s
all wet.
Needless to say, don’t read my books looking for some single, inestimable
system of “rules” that works for everyone. You won’t find it, ’cause
there’s no such bird. You will find a plethora of techniques, tips, tricks,
gimmicks, and what-have-you, some or all of which may work 
for you, some of which won’t. Pick and choose, change and adapt,
figure out what works for you. Because you are responsible for 
creating your study system, not me.
That said, I can guarantee that the nearly 1,000 pages of my How to
Study Program contain the most wide-ranging, comprehensive, and
complete system of studying ever published. I have attempted to 
create a system that is usable, useful, practical, and learnable. One
that you can use—whatever your age, whatever your level of achieve-
ment, whatever your IQ—to start doing better in school, in work,
and in life immediately.
I think we’ve spent enough time talking about what you’re going to
learn. Let’s get on with the learning.
Ron Fry
How to Use This Book
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“It is not enough to understand what we ought to be, 
unless we understand what we are; and we do not understand 
what we are, unless we know what we ought to be.”
—T.S. Eliot
T
aking a good, honest look at yourself is not the easiest thing
in the world. In the next two chapters, I’m going to help you:
■
Evaluate the current level of all your study skills, a necessary
step to identify those areas in which you need to concentrate
your efforts. 
■
Identify the study environment and learning style that suit you. 
■
Categorize all of your school subjects according to how well
you like them and how well you do in them. 
Chapter 1
How to Start out Right
1

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