Customer Reviews

How to Study Science

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is OK. It has some good tips, so it is pretty likely that any student who reads it will find at least one suggestion that helps them. I cannot imagine anyone saying that they really loved all of the suggestions in this book. Also, it was an assigned title for my college biology class, but it is clearly more applicable to the high school level.

How to Study Science gives some very obvious advice. Go to class. Take notes (although you may use some of their suggestions for how to divide your notebook paper to take notes during class; I did not). Read your textbook twice (read an assignment through quickly, noting the key themes, then go back and reread more thoroughly taking notes or outlining). When you have questions, ask your teacher. Study alone and in groups. Do practice problems.

That is some, but not all of the advice given. The book has a lot of suggestions, but most them boil down to "just do the work." If you work to understand material, without giving up the first time you feel confused, you will do better in any class. Each chapter of this book ends with substantial exercises and questions to see how much you took from the chapter. I found these to be a waste of time and promptly stopped doing them, but you may find them useful or if this is a required title for one of your classes, the professor could potentially assign some of these questions. That would be loathsome. My professor has not mentioned this book, not even once. Although it was a required title, she has never made reference to it or suggested that we read it. If I had paid more than eight dollars for this, I not be happy.

I am taking a course in learning how to study chemistry and this book was a wonderful tool on how to study. It does just what the title says teaches you how to study science. Its actually applicable for any subject at least the first 6 chapters can be helpful for setting up great habits for studying success in any subject. As the book progresses it does contain a lot of information that applies to science only but like I said its a wonderful educational tool for just about any subject! I recommended it to another instructor I have currently and he went out and bought it and is using it!

How to take notes and study for tests with those notes was invaluable. Abandon the spiral notebook, use 3 ring binders.

Best gift you could give to any college bound student. I made it through Chemistry by memorizing the entire textbook. This instructional presented a methodical way of working hard -smarter. Included some nice coaching. Notibly telling the reader to anticipate an overwheliming eperience and how to cope with the dread of learning such huge quantities along with other classes. Time management....

I'm a university biology instructor and I have used this book (or earlier editions) as required or recommended in my freshman biology classes for years. The other reviewers have good points--lots of great tips here, you can pick and choose what suits you. If you are a good student with excellent study skills, high motivation and a good work ethic, no, you are probably not going to get too much out of this book and could save your money. However, if you came out of high school with poor or nonexistent skills in note-taking, studying, organizing your time and prioritizing your studies, then this book will definitely help you out. I see a lot of students in that category--they may have been moderately to very successful in high school but college and its fast pace often proves more of a challenge than their skills can handle.

Each chapter is clearly delineated and you can hop around and read only the ones you need. The chapters all start with text which is nicely summed up at the end to a few take home messages. At the end of that there is an exercise for the student to work or fill in for a self-evaluation, i.e. immediate feedback for that chapter.

My very favorite chapter (which I often assign) is Chapter 5--Listening and taking notes. From my experience in teaching freshman for 20+ years, this is an area where most students are lacking a little or a lot. This chapter presents a great, in class note-taking format that results in good notes for later study and integration with the text. Yes, its some work and is a lot more tedious than just writing down random stuff your prof says. But, then, that's the deal--the more effort put into studying, the greater the retention of material.

If you are a biology or science major, and you need some help succeeding, this book is a great investment.