To most of us, learning something “the hard way” implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier. Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head. Drawing on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and other disciplines, the authors offer concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners.

Memory plays a central role in our ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks, such as applying knowledge to problems never before encountered and drawing inferences from facts already known. New insights into how memory is encoded, consolidated, and later retrieved have led to a better understanding of how we learn. Grappling with the impediments that make learning challenging leads both to more complex mastery and better retention of what was learned.

Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. More complex and durable learning come from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Speaking most urgently to students, teachers, trainers, and athletes, Make It Stick will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.

    THE STUDY SMART SERIES, designed for students from junior high school through lifelong learning programs, teaches skills for research and note-taking, provides exercises to improve grammar, and reveals secrets for putting these skills together in great essays.
    Some students are not getting the grades they want, and others spend too much time working for good grades. Any student can find useful advice in Study Smarts: How to Learn More in Less Time. Study Smarts is the most complete and lively guide to streamlined studying. In a highly readable style, the authors eliminate the confusion and anxiety often felt about keeping up with course work.
    Each chapter explains a different technique, and each chapter title is a nugget of advice that summarizes that technique. For example, “Eliminate interference from your environment;” or “Never study anything the same way twice.”
    The writers explain how to set goals, take notes, review, cut reading time, make the most of class discussions, etc., all as efficiently as possible. Beyond refining basic study chores, there are novel tips for time management and cramming and special memory techniques. The authors also tell how to get outside help for special problems.