haven't spent much time socializing with students lately. Even their plan for Friday—the biggest party night of the week—has the student working until 10 P.M., taking a one-hour break, then turning in by eleven.
Student Success Secrets, written by Eric Jensen, a learning expert and professional public speaker, offers equally out-of-touch suggestions. His tips to help you remember concepts learned from a reading assignment include "put it in a picture or poster—use intense colors," "act out the material or do a fun role play in your own room," or "create or redo a song; make a rap." Just try to imagine a sophisticated liberal arts major attempting to make a rap about her recent reading assignment concerning post-structuralist interpretations of pre- Victorian English literature! (Key question: What word rhymes with "Foucault"?)
The granddaddy of all unrealistic study guides, however, just might be What Smart Students Know, by Princeton Review cofounder Adam Robinson. In this best-selling guide, Robinson suggests—and I swear I am not making this up—that students approach a reading assignment as a twelve-step process! That's right, twelve separate steps. Before you even crack the actual assignment, Robinson suggests that you jot down questions about the importance of the reading and then take notes on what you know about the topic, what it
