Chapter I -- Start Strong: Be Organized and in Control -- is
mostly about starting each semester highly organized and in complete
control.Chapter IX -- Continue Strong:
Winning, and the Philosophy of Success --
is a lengthy chapter on the philosophy of success with scores of quotations from
113 of the brightest, most
successful people to ever walk the earth, from ancient to modern
times. Many of them were average people who developed dynamic
attitudes of vision and determination in which failure is, as Mary Pickford said, "not the falling down, but the staying down." It is
definitely OK to fall down but get right back up. All successful
people have an attitude in common, and this attitude of success can
be learned, internalized and made one's own.
In the Appendix is a detailed essay, "The
Writing and Publishing of The Elements of Academic Success." It
includes excerpts from the actual diary of the thoughts and day-to-day work of an
author -- me -- writing this book, from conception to the first copy
hot off the press.
I graduated magna cum laude from the College of
Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina in December, 2000 at middle
age. I
won the Outstanding Student Award for the History Department,
achieved History Departmental Honors, and won the
Rebecca Motte Award
the year before.
Being a middle age man DETERMINED to graduate
magna cum laude, I was intensely focused for years. I didn't have to
analyze what I needed to do. I needed "A"s. I could only make a
couple "B+"s. The rest had to be "A"s.
That became the goal: Straight "A"s
every semester -- "A"s in everything.
In the process, I did not shy away from huge
challenges.
I went for departmental honors which required 12 additional hours of
outstanding work including two independent study projects with
papers, and a year-long six-hour bachelor's essay titled: "Economic
Arguments and Justifications for Southern Secession, 1850s to 1861."
I also went
for the A.B. Degree (Artium Baccalaureatus
Degree) which required, for me, several additional Classics and
Latin courses including a difficult out-of-sequence upper level
Latin course in which I had an outstanding but TOUGH professor who
was later department head for several years. We read original
Classical Latin.
I taught myself dozens of tricks and ways to learn
material quickly and effectively. I created powerful techniques for
studying and taking tests, ways to get every point possible in every
course every semester, ways to deal with professors that
caused them to respect and gladly help me with
anything, ways to do effective research and beat others to the
punch. I learned how to give good presentations in class. I developed a crisp, clear, often hard-driving fast-moving
writing style, and I learned how to
write good papers -- any kind of paper. I made an A++ on my
bachelor's essay for History Departmental Honors (two plusses!). It was a great
experience.
In this book are ALL of the tips, tricks,
techniques and self-created study guides that enabled me to have a
highly successful college career. I learned an
incredible amount, and this book will help readers do the same.
This book is written for college students. Though
parents and high school students will CERTAINLY benefit from this
book, it is written for independent-minded college students out
there in the world at this exciting time in their lives. It is written
to help them absorb the kind of knowledge they need, quickly and
effectively.
The book is crammed full of valuable information
but easy to go through. It is well organized and will help enormously,
not only
with academics in college, but also with intellectual pursuits in the outside
world such as writing, presentations and research.
It's a fun book because I loved my college career
and it comes across that way. It was an unbelievably stimulating
time, though
full of hard work and unrelenting pressure.
I later had the benefit of my oldest son attending
the
College of Charleston. He was one year out of high school with a year of college
already under his belt. I observed him carefully for a semester so I could better
understand his lifestyle and mindset. We talked about it a lot. He
was very active with a scholarship to maintain while
pledging the KA fraternity, and he had a good semester. Observing
and talking to Trey reinforced my feelings and confirmed that I was
on target.
But the main reason this book is powerful and on
target is because it was written by an
average college student DETERMINED to excel at all the things
college students face -- classes, professors, difficult
material, papers, presentations, exams and grades. I faced all those
things with the attitude that I was going to make "A"s in
everything and would not be denied. I would do any amount of work to
make it happen.
Today, I want to empower others by passing on my
PROVEN
magna cum laude tips, tricks, techniques, attitude and self-created study
guides.
I want college students, high school students and
people in the working world whose careers will benefit by such
things as better research and writing and better presentations, to
benefit and succeed beyond their wildest imaginations.
And ALL will benefit throughout their lives from the chapter on
success -- Continue Strong: Winning, and the Philosophy of
Success -- the last chapter of the book. The words of the most brilliant,
driven, high-achieving, successful and happy people to ever walk the
earth are there to absorb. Their wisdom can not be read without
profoundly affecting the reader in a powerful, positive way.
If a student is committed to graduating magna cum
laude, this book will help them enormously.
If a student works and is busy, in and out of
college, but still wants a good GPA, this book will unquestionably help
them too. A lot.
If a student is struggling because they find the
opposite sex irresistible and have partied WAY too much for too
long, this book will be a God-send for them. It might just save
them! |
