Succeeding in College: Study Skills and Strategies

In her preface Jean states "...active learners have the best chance of succeeding at college." She then proceeds to take you down a path loaded with activities. I have spoken with Ms Reynolds and she is a great storyteller. She uses this teaching technique in her book. Every skill she examines is explained with examples that emphasize her major points. In addition to covering tests, reading, note taking etc. she has chapters that focus on studying science and mathematics, as well as research skills. Overall an excellent choice.

I often like to adopt a syntopic reading approach to books in the same genre...partly because it is great fun and partly, I can get more leverage, in terms of learning points, out of the books in the ultimate reading process. I also get to understand and appreciate how two or more independent authors tackle a common issue with, sometimes, different and diverse viewpoints. For an understanding of the syntopic reading process, get hold of Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book.)In this particularly instance, I read Jean Reynolds' book syntopically with Peter Sotiriou's Integrating College Study Skills.On the whole, I found that they can complement each other pretty well, although there are similarities in content as well as contrasts in approach. Both authors demand the reader to take a pro-active approach in the reading process.Jean Reynolds' book is more comprehensive in the coverage of the overall 'study strategies' process. It is also more broad-based, as the author very skilfully uses many success stories of athletes, performers, professional men and women, and leaders in diverse fields to illustrate her points.I particularly enjoy the author's creative treatment of critical thinking with the aid of the pencil. She recognises the pencil as an inexpensive thinking tool. A very interesting concept...practical, too.Peter Sotiriou's book is more specific to the reasoning process embodied in reading, listening & writing. The many exercises in this respect are deliberately constructed in a cumulative, step-by-step fashion. This makes the book very helpful for the college student reader to follow. The author takes great pain to explain and illustrate the process of summarising and paraphrasing upon reading, which are two vital information gathering skills for college students.In terms of introducing reading techniques, both authors did their job pretty well. Both provided ample exercises.To sum up, both books can serve as useful strategy guides for college students. Both are designed to to help you enjoy and benefit from your college experiences.