《how to win at college》reading notes

Recently, I was recommended to read a book called "How to Win at College". The author's name is Cal Nowport, whose blog was named as “Study Hacks” (http://calnewport.com/). I have never heared of him, but now I find myself enjoying his book very well.

The following tips are from the suggestions I think valuable for myself in this book:

1. Don't Do All of Your Reading.
   Two keypoints:
   (1) Master the skill of reading chapter introductions and conclusions carefully, and then skim everything else.
   (2) You will difinitely miss some key points, but your professor won't. So pay attention in class when the work is discussed.
   My extra suggestion: This principle is only for the courses we must take. We have many classical specialty books, for example, "Introduction to Algorithms", we need even read it for many times.

2. Create a Sunday Ritual.
   If you take control of your Sunday, you take control of your week.
3. Drop Classes Every Semester.
   For me, it's hard to do so. Not recommended for myself.
4. Start Long-Term Projects the Day.
   Key points:
   Once you have accomplished something, no matter how small, you realize that starting your project early is not actually all that bad. In fact, it feels good. You are a step ahead of your entire class, and it was easy to do.
5. Make your bed.
   Not only make your bed, but some other housework you could do to keep your room clean. While a clean room creates a focused mind, a messy room creates a distracted mind.
6. Apply to Ten Scholarships a Year.
   I'm sorry to say it's impossible for me as our college have no such many scholarships. Not recommended for myself.
7. Build Study Systems.
   Different students may have different ways to learn. " You should never begin studying without a systemized plan for what you are going to review, in what format, and how many times."
   Build a specific study stystems that breaks a formidable task into accomplishable chunks. The more creative your study system are, the better you learn.
8. Befriend a Professor.
   Don't worry about how to talk with professors.
9. Become a Club President.
   You absolutely have the ability to run a campus organization. Keep your life interesting!
10. Read a Newspaper Every Day.
    New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today. Read every article on the front page, and then read two or three articles of interest from each of the interior sections. Don't just skip the pages you are not interested in.
11. Do One Thing Better than Anyone Else You Know.
    Develop a skill you can be known for.
12. Avoid Daily To-Do Lists.
    Every morning, before your first class, rip a sheet of
    paper out of your notebook. Go down the left-hand margin marking the waking hours of the day using every other line as a guide. Now block out the hours you will be in class. Then block out the hours you will be eating meals, and when you will be in meetings or other scheduled events. The white space that remains represents the free time that you have available to work with for the day. This is a great way to visualize your schedule. Now, start partitioning this free time into one-hour increments, and assign these blocks to specific projects and assignments. Set aside at least one block for accomplishing small chores or errands. Next to this space write a small to-do list of the little tasks you need to get done that day. This ensures that even when you have huge projects to work on, the little tasks that keep your world running—buying toothpaste or returning library books—will not be neglected.

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