5 Books to Prepare You for College, or Help You Get Better at It.

For Time Management: How to Become a Straight-A Student by Cal Newport 

Students in this age may have a harder time keeping the focus for serious study than any other generation. Notifications, social media, etc. (we know the drill) all converge to make managing our time a lot more difficult. Cal Newport has become somewhat of an expert in navigating this new landscape with the focus necessary to complete quality work, and this book is aimed squarely at college students. Students will find tons of practical advice on time management, study methods, and more.

 Nothing in here is revelatory, but sometimes you need the reminder. Take for example his advice on actually writing down what you have to do: “Remember, to-dos and deadlines that exist only in your mind drain your energy, distract your attention, create stress, and are more likely to be forgotten. When you’re working, you should be able to concentrate on working, and when you’re relaxing, you should be able to enjoy relaxing. But you can’t devote 100 percent of your energy to any activity when you have important reminders bouncing around in your head.” All in all, it’s a short read with some great advice for students at every level. 

Other options: Newport’s other books Deep Work and How to Win at College are also worth checking out. You also might like Indistractable by Nir Eyal, which gives an eye-opening account of just how ruthless companies are at grabbing your attention, and what you can do about it. 

For Study Methods: Teach Yourself How to Learn: Strategies you can use to ace any course at any level by Saundra Yancy McGuire

I was first introduced to Saundra McGuire through the companion to this book that was aimed at teachers instead of students, helping them teach metacognitive skills to their students. (If you don’t know what metacognition means, this book will teach you.) She has been teaching students to improve their study habits for many years, and the advice will help any student improve how they learn during a semester. 

She introduces the concept that studying and learning are not the same thing, and she goes on to debunk a lot of mindsets that I have witnessed in students time and time again. Take for example this common misconception: “I realized for the first time that some students believe they are actually learning information in class and only need to ‘go over it’ in order to do well on exams;. Suddenly I understood why so many students wait until the night or two before the test to begin studying. They genuinely believe they have already learned the material in class!” I think the most helpful aspect of this book is that it will help them remove the most common excuses that students use to rationalize their poor academic performance (The teacher is boring, my brain is broken, etc.), and it gives some solid advice on taking responsibility for your learning. 

Other options: Coursera offers a free course called Learning how to Learn: Powerful mental tools that help you master tough subjects by Dr. Barbara Oakley that I found immensely helpful. She also wrote a companion book to that course, Learning how to learn: a guide for kids and teens. I haven't read it, but I assume it covers the same helpful material. If memory is your sticking point, you could check out Nelson Dellis’s youtube channel. He’s a memory champion (yes, there are competitions for memory), and he gives a lot of practical advice on remembering things. Or you could check out his book, Remember It! 

For the Spirituality of Education: The Intellectual Life by A.D. Sertillanges, O. P.

This book is a nice counterbalance to the books above. While the first two books on this list are aimed at giving practical advice, A.D. Sertillanges gives spiritual advice. I love old, serious books, and this book is written in a style befitting a 19th century Dominican priest. Almost every line is a quotable proverb on intellectual life: “By practicing the truths that we know, we merit the truths that we do not yet know.” “The only holy truths are redeeming truths.” “The universe does not respond to the first murmured request, and the light of God does not shine under your study lamp unless your soul asks for it with persistent efforts.”  

What I love most about this book is that it calls students to live an integrated life, where study is a part of their vocation and service to God. Students need to cultivate a healthy mindset around the hard work of study, and the author’s insistence that prayer and acknowledgement of God are critical to study can help student’s break free of the excuses and complaints that do them no good. Separating our intellectual life from our spiritual and social lives leads to a misalignment of our person. 

Other Options: For a more philosophical book, you could check out For Self-Examination / Judge for Yourself! By Soren Kierkegaard. It’s a book that deals with how people study scripture, and the various excuses they use for not actually doing it. Another book that calls for an integration of life and study. 

For Improving Your Writing: Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark  

There are a lot of books on writing, but I like this one for several reasons. First, the advice is solid. Roy Peter Clark has been a writing instructor for many years, and he knows what he is talking about. Second, the lessons are short (2-3 pages) so students can read here and there, and it should keep their interest. 

People often expect too much from a book on writing. They think there is some magical, secret “approach” to writing that will make it easy. There is no such approach. Writing requires the development of a number of different skills over a lifetime of reading and writing. This book accomplishes exactly what it claims: It gives a number of tools and skills that students can implement to begin to improve their writing. 

Other options: I love Richard Lanham on writing. The reason I didn’t recommend him at the outset was that his book Revising Prose is $50. The cheaper version of this book, Longman Guide to Revising Prose: A Quick and Easy Method for Turning Good Writing into Great Writing, is (criminally!) out of print. If an audio option is more your style, I highly recommend Building Great Sentences by the The Great Courses company. You can get it on Audible. 

For Scripture Related to Study: The Wisdom Books by Robert Alter 

This book is a translation of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes by the scholar Robert Alter. Proverbs is a great book for students to read and return to. You can read it in Alter’s translation, which I enjoy, or in whatever translation you have ready at hand. Proverbs is written for young people who are just leaving the safety of their familial home, and it will give students insight into what is required to develop the intellectual and moral skills one needs to make good decisions for themselves. The student will find exhortations to take an active role in their study (Prov 2:3), prioritize studying God’s word (Prov 4:7), ask questions to get understanding (Prov 2:3), and learn to become self motivated (Prov 6:6-7). Pretty much all the advice in the books above could be distilled from a proper study of this wonderful book of scripture. 

Other Options: Psalm 119 is written by somebody who takes studying God’s word very seriously. You might want to tell him to settle down a little, but his seriousness and pursuit of truth can be a model for us to follow.