The Professor's Secrets - Newspaper Article

Minneapolis Pioneer Press

Ultimate Study Guide Teaches Students How To Succeed

By Kay Harvey
Pioneer Press

On the first day of his college class, the professor always asks his students the same four questions:

• How many of you are here to fail?

• Who wants to get top marks?

• Who knows what skills that will take?

• How many want to know?

It's the last question that pushes every student's hand into the air.

Bernie Gaidosch teaches college English. He teaches study skills, too, and in the last year, he churned out a book on the subject. He tackled that project, he says, because somebody had to.

"Students don't come equipped," says Gaidosch, a professor at George Brown University in Toronto. In most classes, there's plenty of attention to the subject at hand but not nearly enough on how to absorb it. There's a false assumption that students, by definition, know how to study. Or if they don't, they'll pick it up when they get to college.

"That's wrong, too," he says. "It's like wanting them to drive a car but never teaching them how."

His self-published book, "The Professor's Secrets: Breaking the Silence, How to Get Top Marks on Tests and Exams," lays out the basics. They range from overcoming procrastination, stress and temptation to cheat to mastering strategies for studying, note-taking and test-taking.

He wrote the book on the heels of another self-help book for students: "The Professor's Secrets: Breaking the Silence, How to Write Essays and Term Papers." His first book simplifies the writing process by likening essays and term papers to a lawyer presenting a case in court. "The topic is like a question," he says. "And you must have points of view to support your answer."

In line with a broader trend, the majority of new students at the college where he teaches score at eighth- or ninth-grade level in reading, writing, vocabulary and comprehension, he says. The professor zeroed in on study and writing skills after seeing those deficiencies in his classes.

A student once spewed vulgarities at Gaidosch in front of an entire class for giving him an F on a midterm. The failing grade wasn't fair, the young man yelled, because he was never taught how to study in high school. Or in college.

A third-year student burst into tears in the professor's office after he asked her what her final essay was about. "I don't know," she said, admitting that her paper-writing tactic was merely to load words related to her topic onto the page.

Other students try to cover up by cheating, he says. Many of them get caught.

A majority of young people these days can't write well because they've had too little exposure to the written language, he says. "Kids excel today at technology. The reality is, too many of them didn't grow up as readers. I say to kids, 'I don't care if you're reading comics or teen magazines. Just read!' "

Inability to think for oneself and organize thoughts and information in writing creates bigger problems than those that show up in college. It can squelch workers' chances for success on the job.

"I ask employers, 'How important are these things to our graduates?' " he says. "They explain that 70 to 80 percent of what businesses do is communicate — internally and to media and shareholders. If you can't be in on that part of the process, you'll be in a cubicle and stay there forever."

The professor's third book, focused on making the jump from school to the working world, is due out in the fall.

To order books: "The Professor's Secrets: Breaking the Silence, How to Get Top Marks on Tests and Exams" by Bernie Gaidosch (Daimon Corp., $29.99). Its companion book, "How to Write Essays and Term Papers" by Bernie Gaidosch (regularly $29.99) is available for an additional $15. Call 1-877-439-3999 or visit www.profsecrets.com.

Study skills

For note-taking:

• Write down words and phrases your instructor emphasizes.

• Develop your own shorthand system.

• Take notes using an outline form.

• To zero in on what's most important, take notes from your notes.

• Be alert to cues suggesting what the teacher considers important.

• Share notes and discuss lecture material with other students.

For test-taking:

• Go over review materials your instructor hands out.

• Highlight key points from your class notes and put them on index cards.

• Use your instincts to surmise questions that might appear on a test.