College Smart.

The book that's essential to college as a dining hall meal card.

This book makes the perfect graduation gift for the college-bound high school senior. Don't let the small size fool you. College Smart is packed with practical strategies that any student can use to study more effectively, retain more information, and score higher come exam day.

What you will learn in College Smart:


The most effective way to take notes.
Why you should join a study group.
How to put the power of "pretesting" to work.

Testing Beats Studying

Test more and study less? Use this proven technique to raise your scores.

Teach It To Learn It

We'll show you how to use the "tutor effect" to turbo charge your learning.

Change Where You Study

Can you get better grades simply by studying in different places? Research says yes!

Nicholas Soderstrom's concise, easy- to-read College Smart provides a road map to help students attain academic success. Based on well-established research findings, Soderstrom provides detailed guidance on academic essentials like note taking, study groups, and study routines, highlighting how student's intuitive approaches often exacerbate their academic challenges. I plan to share College Smart with all of our incoming freshman.

— Elliot Hirshman, Ph.D., President of San Diego State University

If you want to get a step ahead in college, then read this book. Soderstrom shares all the easy-to-use strategies of learning effectively in an engaging style that is easy to read. He not only explains why the strategies work, but more important, his guidance on how to apply the strategies will help students benefit from them. I'm certainly going to recommend College Smart to all my students.

— Katherine Rawson, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Kent State University

It's no longer good enough just to graduate college; you actually need to learn stuff while you are there. This book tells you how to do that. It takes the latest findings from the science of learning and explains how they can be practically applied to the work of college. I wish I had known these things when I was in college!

— James W. Stigler, Ph.D, Professor of Psychology at University of California, Los Angeles

Meet the author

Nicholas Soderstrom, Ph.D.
Nicholas (Nick) Soderstrom is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Dickinson College. He received his doctorate degree in Cognitive Psychology from Colorado State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an expert in human learning and memory and has been recognized for his excellence in both teaching and research.

Sam McMillan
Sam McMillan earned a Masters Degree in Teaching from Duke University and taught creative writing workshops as a Poet In the Schools in North Carolina. In the 1990s he designed the curriculum for the San Francisco State University Multimedia Studies Program in Digital Design and Production. Currently he is a contributing editor to Communication Arts and consults on brand strategy.