Introduction

Once a young person has seen and felt the genuine trust and street cred of a mentor, you will then have a golden opportunity to take the process into the domain of action – discovering together some highly valuable and effective study skills that will help launch the young person’s educational goals into measurable steps and tangible progress.

Consider it a mutual educational experience, always the best way to learn. You can share your stories about how you had to overcome tedium and fear, for example, in order to come to the point of self-motivation. Use self-deprecating humor. Emphasize how fortunate young people today are to have access to the Internet – make a joke, perhaps, about explaining that plowing through drab volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica is not quite as adventuresome or as fun as clicking your way into gardens of knowledge on a laptop.

This section offers strategies into disciplined reading habits, well-structured research skills, test-taking preparations, taking valuable lecture notes, good grammar, outlining textbooks, and sound thinking drills.