Chapter 3

Prereading is a game changer. You instantly become smarter. Everyone is smarter when they have seen the material before. You will be too.
This is from the book, "Straight A at Stanford and on to Harvard. How to learn faster and think better." by Peter Rogers MD.
Chapter 3. Prereading.

This is a game changer.

It changed my life.

Every student knows what it is like to be overwhelmed by a lecture. This happened to me in biochemistry. I'm sitting there, in the front row, like a good boy, and 10 minutes in, the professor starts picking up the pace, getting more and more complex.

Soon, I'm like Hansel and Gretel in the forest with no bread crumbs. I try to take notes, but it's no use. I'm lost. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

This means, I'm gonna have to study this stuff all evening and all weekend. I'm mad at the teacher for going so fast and I'm mad at myself for being so clueless. Another weekend chasing biochemistry facts instead of girls.

I call my friend, the great Charles (Chuck) Kinder, a cardiologist in Chicago. I knew he was the best student in his medical school class at the university of Illinois.

I said, “Chuck, it's like drinking water from a firehose. I can't keep up. What should I do?”

Chuck said, “get the co-ops from last year.”

Me, “what's a co-op?”

Chuck, “The students get together and each makes a typed copy of the lecture notes from one class. You can buy last year's version.

The lectures are about the same each year. Everybody is smarter when they have seen the material before. You will be too.”

The clouds parted, and the sun shone brightly.

Eureka! is an understatement.

The night before a biochemistry class, I read the last year's coop notes. I look at the pictures in the book. I read some of the book. Now, I've got the general concept. Sure,... There's a couple of details to fill in and a few things to memorize. But that's no big deal. I've got the big picture, and that's all I need.

Bring it on professor, I'm ready.

That's right.

The next day, I'm a goalie sitting in the front row.

“Nothin gets past me.”

I try to anticipate and catch every word the professor says.

If the professor gets a fact past me, that's a goal for him.

If I can follow just about everything in the lecture, then that's a win for me.

My ability to comprehend a biochemistry lecture just went from 30% to 95%.

I went on to score 780 out of a possible 800 on the medical school, national boards exam in biochemistry. Given that the 99th percentile began at around 690, this was one of the highest scores in the USA, perhaps the highest.

Chapter 4.
Getting started at Stanford.