Rating: 
Summary: Robinson knows what he is talking about
Review: "What Smart Students Know" is a five star book because it is a ground breaking book. Robinson has two remarkable qualities as a writer and thinker: he knows how things REALLY work, and is NOT AFRAID to tell you. He used theses two abilities to crack open the SAT in his book "Cracking the SAT", and now he has blown wide open our educational system in "What Smart Students Know". I have been through the educational system, from high school through graduate school, and can only say that Robinson has it all nailed down. From the personal biases of teachers to the incorrect model of learning that all schools embrace. It may be controversial, it may be upsetting, but Robinson is going to tell you how schools really work and how you can use this knowledge to take control of your education and succeed. Through my years of schooling I saw over and over and over again examples of the author's discoveries. Many times after seeing something crazy or hearing something hard to believe (like a student that a teacher liked begin given an "A" after getting half the questions wrong) I would think "Wow, Robinson mentioned that kind of bias in his book!".As a side note, there is another wonderful book out there that helped me as much as Adam Robinson's in terms of learning and getting good grades. It is Tony Buzan's book "Use Both Sides of Your Brain". It is equally groundbreaking, but it concentrates more on how we understand and process information. It is a fun, slim book that will change your life. To conclude, Adam Robinson should be in charge of overhauling our education system. He is THAT good. When he speaks, our educational system must listen.
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Summary: A must read for students and parents
Review: A well organised book that uses simple straightforward prose to put forth an effective strategy for learning. It includes useful information for organising notes, completing assignments and preparing for exams. One of the better books on strategies for learning.
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Summary: This book saved my school career!
Review: All through high school and college nobody ever teaches you how to learn. Some students may have older siblings or parents who have excelled in school and can let them in on the secrets, but I, unfortunately, wasn't one of them. I couldn't figure out why I had to study so much and didn't do well on tests when others seemed to be doing much better than I was. I rarely aced a test. Then this book was recommended to me by another student and it has totally changed the way think about my classes and mostly how to take notes and actually learn and do well on tests. It also increases your self-esteem because you don't feel like beating yourself up or dropping a class when you do poorly on a test. This is the best money you will spend in school.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book, but one philosophical objection
Review: Around the time I first read this book, my grades improved immensely. I don't know how much I can attribute this improvement to reading this book, but it definitely helped. In 8th grade I went from being a B or C student to a straight A student, in part because of the techniques and motivation provided in Robinson's book. I learned that I could improve my grades with very little effort and some good strategies. If you're looking for a way to improve your grades, you might enjoy this book. Although it is a good book, I can not exactly "recommend" it, because of a personal belief that the author approaches the issue from the wrong direction. Generally this is a 5-star book. It is written in a clear, well-organized fashion, and the author does a fantastic job doing what he sets out to do. It is perhaps inappropriately entitled "What Smart Students Know." (The techniques Robinson provides doesn't make anyone smarter, just more manipulative). I believe the author is right on the mark with his observation that we are our own best teachers, and that a love of learning is essential -- THESE are the things a "smart student" knows. However, he writes that "a smart student knows that school is a game." He says that school is sometimes illogical and often makes the learning process much harder than it should be. So, he helps students play the game and "get by" in the system, but he never addresses the real problem. That is, these techniques may help students get better grades, but they don't (necessarily) do very much to improve how well students learn. And the techniques don't really help unenthusiastic learners become motivated, either. Do "smart students" just want good grades, or do they want to learn, and love learning too?? I completely agree with Robinson's philosophy on what schools do wrong; but I think helping students maneuver around the problems is a short and inadequate substitution for a real solution. Thus, I give the book 4-stars. If a student doesn't succeed on the basis of WHO HE IS, and must change the way he learns just to get by in the system, then the problem is the system, not the student! It is my belief that an education should never, ever change who a person is. For a fascinating look at a myriad of solutions to these problems, I recommend "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" by Grace Llewellyn (written particularly for teenagers, but good reading for anyone). See my review (Jason Howard) on Amazon.com, which explains essentially what that particular book is about. There are better strategies for getting by in life and learning, than the ones that Robinson provides! Ultimately, you will have to decide for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: What Smart Students Know
Review: As a teacher, I have used this book for two semesters as a text in my study skills class at a community college. Each class that tries Robinson's techniques has improved grades. We have supplemented it with material found on the internet. Robinson is somewhat weak on math courses, but the principles have been applied successfully by my students to science, math, history, literature, writing, and other courses. They are thrilled that their grades have gone up (although I think they were a pair of pretty sharp groups to start with).
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Summary: Why couldn't I have found this book in first grade?
Review: Do you have any idea how much easier my life would have been? An incredible book, it points out the irony that of all the things we are taught and study in school the one thing we don't study is perhaps the most important of all: HOW TO STUDY!
I am an intelligent person, but I have never done well in school - an occasional A, a more common B, and often Cs or less. What a surprise to read this book and find that I actually have what the author terms the "attitude of a smart student." This attitude is comprised of a love of learning, a willingness to learn, and the knowledge that no one teaches you better than you teach yourself (because we all learn in different ways, and only we know how we learn best). There is a difference, however, between being a smart person and a smart student; attitude alone is not enough to succeed in the school game ("a smart student knows that school is a game, but it is an important game") if you do not know all the rules. And one of the most obvious, and most denied, rules is that there is nothing more subjective and biased than grading. This author points out that grades can even be based on how a student dresses, where a student sits, and the teacher's personal opinion of a student. For example, if you have a good reputation as an "A student" but do the same on a project as someone with a bad reputation as an "F student," you will often be graded according to your earned reputation. "All students make mistakes," teachers will often reason, "This is an 'A student' mistake and can be excused." For the student who has established an "F student" reputation, the same mistake will be seen in light of his grade history and he will be graded accordingly. Important in establishing a reputation as a "good student," this author says, is making a good impression early in the course: dress well, sit near the front of the class, work extra hard on the first few assignments. Teachers are people, people with egos, and they need to be appeased just like anyone else (which is why arguing openly with teachers, even when you know they are wrong, is not advised unless you want your grade to suffer). Another unwritten rule of school, a philosophy most teachers and institutions are based on (but would deny if asked, the author says), is the idea that students are not even particularly interested in or like learning. What's more, textbooks are terribly written and are designed for sales - as many texts to as many schools as possible is the objective, not accessibility or user-friendliness (and often not even correct information [texts are plagued with inaccuracies]). This results in watered-down, information-dense tomes that are virtually impenetrable and can kill the student's spirit. The author shows us how to get around this by taking a typically boring and hellish passage about Igneous rocks and teaching us how to approach the paragraphs: underlining and highlighting teaches you how to underline and highlight, what you need to do is actively involve yourself in what you are reading, keep the main themes in mind, and connect the major ideas, ask yourself questions, ask the book questions, and key to understanding and internalizing information is 'translating' what you have learned into your own personalized every day language - put it in 'your own words.' I love this book because I respect the teacher's candor. This book closes with an open letter to students, parents, teachers, and administrators. In this letter the author admits why he really wrote this book: because he hates what schools do to students, the way it batters their egos and places them in something of a cast system of intelligence, and then will even graduate students who are illiterate simply because they want them out of their face. Schools are mind-control factories that chip away at the students self-esteem and self-initiative by thrusting him in the "passive" position of sitting in class and being "spoon fed" (author's words) an education. But despite the current crisis in education, this author notes, many schools think they are doing just fine. Schools are businesses, he says, and the objective of a business is to stay in business - they do this year after year by refreshing the student body with new freshmens and graduating the older student. Then the rest of the nation has to pick up the pieces. But it's not entirely the fault of schools, Mr. Robinson says, students need to take an active role in their own education (despite the fact that what schools teach is passivity), take responsibility for their learning, and enjoy the ride. The irony, he says, is that smart students enjoy learning, spend less time studying, don't fixate on grades, and usually get the highest marks. This book encourages the love of learning, not the paranoia of grades. I am thankful to this book for saying what learning institutions will never admit to: that they don't care about me, so I have to. School is a game and if you want to succeed in it you will need someone to teach you how to play. This book does just that. Whether in grade school, high school, or college, this book will help.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but hard to apply it.
Review: For those that would love to have a grasp of how studying should be, this is a great book. However, applying what you have learned from this book is quite difficult and it make you feel frustrated seeing that you almost never apply the techniques. Habits are very hard to change!! Give it a try, but changing your habits is hard!!
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Summary: Start studying right!
Review: I am going to be a first year in medical school in the fall and bought several books to help me get maximum benefit with minimum time spent studying. Because medical school consists of so much material in a short period of time, I needed to learn study techniques that were unlike my old ones-read, take notes, reread until the test. I have read this book and started implimenting the techniques. They really work. I agree that it would be better to start before a semester begins because the techniques are vastly different from how normal students prepare for exams and would be hard to impliment while taking classes. It is well worth it, though, especially if you are in or are planning to go to college or graduate school. It is a must have.
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Summary: Excellent for Students, Parents and Educators
Review: I have 3 children apporaching college age and wish to provide them with every advantage possible to help them excel. Following days of bookstore searches, I bought numerous books on SAT preparation, study improvement and college entrance assistance. Among these was Adam Robinson's "What Smart Students Know." In this book we found a gem among the usual stacks of study guides, vocabulary lists and practice tests. Robinson provides the reader with insights that cannot be obtained elsewhere. He shows the student how to analyze shortcomings and use this knowledge to perform better in their studies. At times one seems to almost find oneself entering the mind of a standardized test preparer thereby developing a much better understanding of the test itself. Mr. Robinson's experience in this area provides an added benefit. Clearly years of research, as well as trial and error were involved in the preparation of this book. The reader is taken from preparation to practice to success in a methodical and thorough way. Problems are taken apart and analized in an attempt to discard habits and routines that yield unsatifactory results. Once these problem areas are understood, the reader is encouraged to develop his own improved approach to study and test taking through a series of ideas and suggestions. Perhaps most striking is the fact that this book is appropriate for all age levels. College students preparing for graduate level tests as well as students approaching the high school years will benefit from its teachings. It is more than a book to be read, but rather a way of learning that should be absorbed, over and over, by students, parents and educators. A must read for all.
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Summary: I use this in class
Review: I have been teaching college for 15 years and have always struggled to understand why students do so poorly on assignments. This book opened my eyes - the techniques mirror what I did in school (I thought everyone studied like I did...wrong!). I now use this book in a study skills class I teach. About 95% of my students LOVE this book (and I'm not exaggerating). I think almost all of them have learned something new. In fact many reported that they now feel better about themselves and their grades. Some suggestions are time consuming (and even I would hesitate to do them), but most are little things that students can do to change their habits. He also accurately portrays college professors, textbooks, and the educational system.
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