W

hat effect can good study habits have? I suspect native-
born talents and skills—the basic abilities you’re born
with—have the most to do with success in school—
50 percent, maybe even 60. And the environment in which you’re
trying to learn, your health, and other such factors may account for
another 10 percent, maybe 15. That leaves 25 to 40 percent for study
skills.

Don’t believe that learning how to study can have such a monstrous
effect? First, read How to Study,practice the skills, and watch the
results. I think you’ll discover I’m right. Second, if you don’t believe
study skills are so important, you must believe something like “smart
kids do well because they’re smart.” Well, a lot of smart kids don’tdo
well. At all. Others do well in school but test poorly. And many are
great in some subjects and not so great in others. I don’t have to prove
this. Look at your friends, at others in your school. I guarantee you’ll
prove it to yourself.

What kind of effort are we talking about here? Another hour a night?
Two hours a night? More? And what about that “study smarter, not
harder” slogan that’s associated with my How to Study Program?
“If I’m studying longer,” you might reasonably contend, “I’m sure as
heck studying harder, at least by my definition.”

Chapter 2

How to Organize

Your Studying

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