This Book Will Not Be on the Test: The Study Skills Revolution

The problem with higher education today is that colleges are not transparent about their students’ academic lives, so families don’t know what their students should experience or accomplish in college. This book is part on-the-ground college insider tell-all memoir and part study skills bible. It’s brutally honest, relatable, entirely free of jargon, and alerts parents to a huge problem in American education today—high school doesn’t prepare students to thrive in college. Offering explicit study skills solutions for the academic, financial, and mental health problems caused by this unfortunate reality, This Book Will Not Be on the Test helps students, parents, teachers, and administrators have more rewarding experiences in schools, to the great benefit of themselves and their school communities. It shows students how to learn more and earn better grades in less time so that they can make the most of their college investment; it shows what parents can expect from their kids’ college experiences; and it shows administrators what the schoolwork is really like at the level below or above their current professional context. Every parent will recognize their college-bound children somewhere in this book.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Jeff Landeck Preface Acknowledgments Part 1: The Big Picture Chapter 1- Introduction Chapter 2- Seven Rules for Getting Your Money’s Worth and Having an Awesome Time in College Part 2: Common Cases Chapter 3- Kids with No Plan Chapter 4- Kids with Ill-Conceived Plans Chapter 5- Kids Who Don’t Apologize or Write Thank-You Notes Chapter 6- Kids Who Don’t Test Well Chapter 7- Kids Who Procrastinate Chapter 8- Kids with ADHD Chapter 9- Kids with Slow Processing Speed Part 3: Special Cases Chapter 10- Kids Who Think Learning Styles Exist Chapter 11- Unmotivated Kids Chapter 12- Hard Cases Chapter 13- Athletes Chapter 14- Women with Low Confidence Chapter 15- High-Performing Kids Part 4: Study Skills Solutions Chapter 16- Time Management Chapter 17- Reading Chapter 18- Notetaking Chapter 19- Tests Chapter 20- Papers Part 5: Next Steps Chapter 21- Conclusion Appendix About the Author

About the Author :
Paul Smith Rivas is the director of Smith Rivas Study Skills & Academic Coaching. He studied literature in Mexico City, backpacked from Spain to Syria via Morocco and Wales, performed stand-up comedy in Spanish in Buenos Aires, and traveled from Argentina to the United States by bus.

Review :
As college costs continue to soar, it’s become even more important to get the most out of your time on campus. You can get on top of schoolwork, participate in rewarding extracurriculars, and prepare yourself for an exciting post-college life by following the steps in this smart, practical book. Paul Rivas has a gift for understanding what it takes to unlock a young person’s academic potential. In this book is his invaluable guidance, for every type learner: something every college-bound student, and their parents, should read. A tremendous, on-the-ground application of the science of learning that entertains and inspires. Paul Rivas takes research about how people learn and translates it into effective practices that students can implement and use to succeed in their classes. Every kid who wants to be a highly successful college athlete should read this book. This book is exactly what international students need to thrive in American universities. Life lasts a lot longer than football. NFL hopefuls with superior study skills have more time to work on their game in the short term and more time to develop life skills for the long term. Building good time management habits when it comes to your schoolwork and sport leads to accountability, which determines who can and cannot get it done when it’s time to perform!