How to be a High School Superstar Review
In “How to be a High School Superstar”, Cal Newport discusses ways to get into college and study strategies.
In the introduction, Mr. Newport disproves the myth that grades and a lot of AP classes are more impressive to the admissions officers. However, he states that grades are still very important for getting into college. Only if your grades are in the top 75% that that college accepts will that college be a reasonable goal.
Studying for tests is an important part of getting good grades. In his book, Mr. Newport recommends taking good notes. A good strategy for note taking is writing a question and a conclusion for each point. (eg: question: What caused world war 2? conclusion: World War 2 was caused by Germany invading countries that they lost because of the Treaty of Versailles.) A study strategy that he recommends is actively recalling things. It is also important to do well on homework. In order to keep from pulling an all-nighter and falling asleep in class, you should plan your homework two weeks in advance. You should also have a place that you can go to focus and get work done. This place should be quiet and distraction-free. A way to get work done without exhausting your brain is to work in 50-minute chunks followed by 10 minutes of break.
Students who focus on one interest that they have and excel at it appear more impressive to admissions officers than students who pick a random unusual activity. For example, becoming a world-class Rubix cube competitor is more impressive than “taking underwater banjo lessons.”
Mr. Newport also gives advice on when to quit. He says that you should clean out your schedule every semester. You should review your schedule for the classes that might give you too much homework.
This book was a good read and I would recommend it. Even though this book was written for high schoolers, it still had advice that was relevant to me as a 7th grader.
In the introduction, Mr. Newport disproves the myth that grades and a lot of AP classes are more impressive to the admissions officers. However, he states that grades are still very important for getting into college. Only if your grades are in the top 75% that that college accepts will that college be a reasonable goal.
Studying for tests is an important part of getting good grades. In his book, Mr. Newport recommends taking good notes. A good strategy for note taking is writing a question and a conclusion for each point. (eg: question: What caused world war 2? conclusion: World War 2 was caused by Germany invading countries that they lost because of the Treaty of Versailles.) A study strategy that he recommends is actively recalling things. It is also important to do well on homework. In order to keep from pulling an all-nighter and falling asleep in class, you should plan your homework two weeks in advance. You should also have a place that you can go to focus and get work done. This place should be quiet and distraction-free. A way to get work done without exhausting your brain is to work in 50-minute chunks followed by 10 minutes of break.
Students who focus on one interest that they have and excel at it appear more impressive to admissions officers than students who pick a random unusual activity. For example, becoming a world-class Rubix cube competitor is more impressive than “taking underwater banjo lessons.”
Mr. Newport also gives advice on when to quit. He says that you should clean out your schedule every semester. You should review your schedule for the classes that might give you too much homework.
This book was a good read and I would recommend it. Even though this book was written for high schoolers, it still had advice that was relevant to me as a 7th grader.
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