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  • 2009
    • March
      • Back of cover blurbs
        03/21/09
        “David has always been an observer of the system. I watched David coming to grips with the systems & concepts surrounding higher education in his first year, and he very diligently began to formulate strategies that worked. We often talked of “playing the game”, and this book is all about the

      • Final Thoughts
        03/21/09
        There are so many small strategies you can apply that will increase your chances of getting great marks at Uni. I’m glad you’ve taken the time to read this book.

        As you’ll notice, a great deal of the skills you must develop are personal skills. I’ve seen a lot of ‘smart’ students en

      • Lesson 17: Avoid taking and giving advice about classes, lecturers and exams.
        03/21/09
        People love to strike fear into your heart at university. They sadistically enjoy talking about how 'hard' things are going to be, and how they heard about the fail rates, or that they heard the lecturer is evil.

        Learn to disregard everything and go into everything with an

      • Lesson 16: The power of the revision exercises in the textbook.
        03/21/09
        Most lecturers just take the exercises in the textbook and vaguely reword them for final exams. This is easier on them and if you've already answered them and thought about the questions, it's easier for you too. A nice, quiet, untold win-win. Your mind learns by doing. Chances are when y

      • Lesson 15: Nightclubs, Drinking, Drugs and University.
        03/21/09
        This chapter will address a real issue. If you don't like reality, skip it. I'm going to give you practical, scientifically proven and intelligent advice. Perhaps you and your friends partake in some pretty heavy drinking. If you don't, let me be the first to congratulate you. Th

      • Lesson 14: Mind Maps, why and how.
        03/21/09
        Nearly all subjects grow in an exponential and progressive fashion. Lectures will begin with an idea, and expand them. For this reason, mind maps are a useful tool to understand an entire topic at a glance.

        Mind map takes a basic “starter” concept and expands into all of the sub sec

      • Lesson 13: How to make use of your lecturer’s personality
        03/21/09
        As I've mentioned repeatedly throughout this book, University is more about people and less about the institution. Lecturers have ambitions, goals, dreams, and personal beliefs, all of which you can use to your advantage in obscure ways. Tread lightly when you use this, as you'll notice

      • Lesson 12: How to increase your chances in exams.
        03/21/09
        Exams are a really frustrating concept. They're quite frankly an outdated and monolithic way of assessing people’s understanding. However, there's a way to ace them every time, given practice.

        You must remember and understand about 8 weeks of work, and condense it into some

      • Lesson 11: Personal development, Setting and Kicking Goals at Uni, and winning in general.
        03/21/09
        One of the first jobs I ever had was working for a self made multi-millionaire. He asked me to convert all of his tape collections to mp3 – a tedious, thankless task.

        The equipment I used didn't let me mute the audio from the various speakers who lectured endlessly about personal

      • Lesson 10: Self confidence, Self confidence, Self Confidence!
        03/21/09
        Being a strong, happy and confident person is an art form. It helps you when you meet new people, it helps you take on challenges and new situations, but most importantly, research shows good self esteem will help you with your marks.

        In fact, a study showed that students who received

      • Lesson 9: How to successfully contest a mark.
        03/21/09
        Whatever you do, don't go in steaming about how unfair life is and how you've been victimized. I'm not kidding, I’ve heard of students 'setting the lecturer straight' and yet dismal about their mark not being changed. The amusing thing is, they couldn’t understand why. <

      • Lesson 8: How to succeed when asking for extensions.
        03/21/09

        Don’t go down the doctors’ certificate aisle unless you really have to. Your GP will question you more intently when something serious pops up, and lecturers will raise an eyebrow if you're always “sick” but never visibly ill. It will drag you into a situation where you have to lie, and

      • Lesson 7: How to give a good presentation
        03/20/09

        A lot of degrees have a large focus on presentation skills. Even if your degree isn't so group and presentation focused, chances are you'll get electives that require you to jump up in front of the class and talk on your chosen topic.

        A lot of people are paralyzed by

      • Lesson 6: Group work: how to manage and deal with groups.
        03/20/09
        Most of the time you'll get to work with your friends, however there will always be situations where you have to work with people you don't like, people who are lazy (and subsequently stupid), and people who are disagreeable know-it- alls. Here's how to deal with all of the above.

      • Lesson 5: How to understand and remember your subjects.
        03/20/09
        These are the six most powerful steps you will ever learn to follow. These steps are based on scientific research which demonstrates powerful improvements in learning. Try them for one semester without fail, and you will never look back!

        Step 1. Read all the content surrounding the to

      • Lesson 4: The benefits and pitfalls of skipping lectures & classes.
        03/20/09
        When you're trying to learn a new concept properly, you need a chunk of time and a focused mind. To be blunt with you, a lot of lectures are boring, whether it is that the content has been arranged with poor imagination, or whether it be that the speaker is not engaging: either way you will com

      • Lesson 3: Making contact with the people teaching you
        03/20/09
        You need to know them on a first name basis, and they need to at least respect you in some way.

        Since you'll probably skip some lectures throughout the semester, be sure to show up and sit in on lectures as often as you can without impeding your ability to self teach. I went to abou

      • Chapter 2 – Smart study skills
        03/20/09

        This is a fast collection of tips which will save you time, money and energy. Don’t skip this chapter. The last point is probably the best point in this book. It’s what I call “The holy grail of assignment writing”…

        Get off on the right foot when writing.

        Always

      • Lesson 1: Your very first week - who to make friends with and why.
        03/20/09
        Believe it or not this is probably the single most important lesson I can teach you. University is not a popularity contest. In first year, the people primarily concerned with partying and social status, I guarantee you, will drop out within a year, or spend the following years cycling between dep

      • Introduction
        03/20/09
        In the following 17 chapters you will learn powerful strategies which will maximize your free time and minimize your effort while you go through your degree.

        I believe studying is an art, but more than that, it's a skill that can be streamlined. Think about it. When you first wen

      • Foreword:
        03/20/09
        On my favourite report card from high school, my maths teacher accurately wrote “David has demonstrated a unique ability to calculate the absolute minimum work he needs to do to pass.”

        Don't let this quote discourage you, you are not about to receive sub-standard advice. This p

      • A Message to all the free readers!
        03/20/09
        Hi. The below is a book I was planning to sell, however I haven't got time to finish it. I began writing it late 2007, and stopped work late 2008 as I finished my degree. I've made it available online as a totally free resource for anybody in the world who wants to read it. It’s still a