How to Study

If You’re a “Traditional” College Student
…age 18 to 25, I hope you are tackling one or two of the study skills
you failed to master in high school (in which case I highly recommend
you also read the other books in my How to Study Program).
Otherwise, I can’t see how you’re ever going to succeed in college.
(Then again, I can’t figure out how you managed to get into college.)
If you are starting from scratch, my advice is the same as to the high
school students reading this book: Drop everything and make it your
number one priority. Do not pass Go. Do not order pizza.
How to Use This Book
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If You’re the Parent of a Student of Any Age
Your child’s school is probably doing little, if anything, to teach him or
her how to study. Which means he or she is not learning how to learn.
And that means he or she is not learning how to succeed.
There are probably even more dedicated parents out there than 
dedicated students, since the first phone call at any of my radio or TV
appearances comes from a sincere and worried parent asking, “What
can I do to help my kid do better in school?” Okay, here they are, the
rules for parents of students of any age:
1. Set up a homework area. Free of distraction, well lit, with
all necessary supplies handy. 
2. Set up a homework routine. When and where it gets done.
Studies have clearly shown that students who establish a 
regular routine are better organized and, as a result, more 
successful. 
3. Set homework priorities. Actually, just make the point that
homework is the priority—before a date, before TV, before
going out to play, whatever. 
4. Make reading a habit—for them, certainly, but also for
yourselves. Kids will inevitably do what you do, not what you
say (even if you say not to do what you do).