1st Edition

Getting Straight 'A's A Student's Guide to Success

By Dr Richard Palmer Copyright 2006
    178 Pages
    by Routledge

    178 Pages
    by Routledge

    Packed full of invaluable and practical advice, tips, quizzes and self-assessment exercises for fifteen to eighteen year olds, this guide, written with the keenest and most ambitious students in mind, will help you to maximise your academic potenitial and achieve the results you need. Written by an acknowledged expert in the field, this study guide will help you to:

    • assess your own strengths and weaknesses
    • make the best use of available resources
    • effectively manage your time and prioritise your workload
    • develop essay-writing and note-taking skills
    • excel in exams and coursework.

    Considered a natural companion to the author's highly successful Brain Train, this book maximises academic potential both in coursework and exams amongst GCSE and AS/A-level students, effectively, simply, and without exhausting and counter-productive effort.

     

    Page

    Preface

     

    Acknowledgements

     

    ONE: NAMING IT

     

    I. Preliminary: Why Real Achievers Don’t Do Drugs

    1

    II. Situation Report

    2

    Money

    2

    Expectations (1)

    2

    Expectations (2)

    3

    Assessment-Driven Currica: The Dangers & The Price

    4

    III. The Importance of the Pleasure Principle

    6

    IV: Seductive Stupidities: Those ‘S’ Words Revisited

    8

    Spotting The Question

    16

    Plagiarism

    22

    Conclusion

    24

    TWO: USING IT

     

    I. Arming Yourself

    26

    A. Honesty

    26

    B. Vanity

    29

    C. Caring

    32

    II. Knowing Yourself

    35

    III. Advancing Yourself

    37

    THREE: SORTING IT

     

    A. Respecting the Obvious

    41

    Self-management I: Get to Know Your Brain

    41

    Self-management II: Equipment & Assets

    45

    Self-management III: Scheduling

    52

    Self-management IV: Comforts & Pleasures

    54

    B. Going Beyond the Obvious

    56

    I. Concentration

    56

    II. Challenge & Self-Confidence

    60

    III. Punctuation and Paragraphing

    61

    White Space: four contrasting lay-outs

    69

    Paragraphing: some guidelines

    73

    A Cautionary Tale

    74

    Conclusion

    75

    FOUR: NAILING IT

     

    1. What is Knowledge?

    77

    1a. Three angles on ‘facts’

    80

    1b. What is Truth?

    81

     

    2. What types of Knowledge are there?

    86

    1. Questions which have one correct answer

    86

    2. Questions which have many possible answers

    86

    3. Questions which have no correct answer but depend

    solely on the person answering

    87

    3. Common Fallacies / Disreputable or Specious Arguing

    91

    4. Justifying Your Think I: Good Reasons

    99

    5. Justifying Your Think I: Good Instincts

    104

    Conclusion

    109

    FIVE: DOING IT

     

    I. Preliminary

    110

    II. Eyes Right: Speed-Reading

    111

    III. Eyes Wrong: Screen-Reading

    113

    IV. Note-Taking

    117

    Mini-Lecture Noting Exercise

    120

    V. Writing

    123

    Do what you’re told and what you say

    124

    Aim for pace and variety

    125

    Command Verbs

    126

    Muscle, not flab; analysis ‘versus’ description

    129

    Make constant use of your biggest asset: you

    131

    Words & phrases to avoid

    133

    Register and ‘Pitch’

    134

    Reference & Quotation

    134

    SIX: MAKING IT

     

    I. Preliminary

    136

    II. Attitudes 1: Examiners – Monsters, Robots or Humans?

    138

    III. Attitudes 2: Priming Yourself

    141

    IV. Revision & Review

    144

    V. In the Exam Hall

    148

    Danger of Death: the first two minutes

    149

    Danger of Dissolution: pacing yourself and staying alert

    150

    The Longest Day: wall-to-wall exams

    153

    Conclusion

    155

    Appendix I – Net Practice

    156

    Appendix II – Noting Exercise Model Answer

    161

    Notes

    164

    Bibliography

    172

    Index

    174

    Biography

    Richard Palmer is Head of English at Bedford School. His other Routledge titles include The Good Grammar Guide, and Write in Style.