The Straight-A Conspiracy: A Student's Secret Guide to Ending the Stress of High School and Totally Ruling the World

by Hunter Maats, Katie O'Brien

What if the only reason you aren’t doing well in school is that you’ve been lied to about your own brain? For centuries, students worldwide have been tricked into making school more difficult, more stressful, and less successful than it needs to be. In reality, you already have the ability to make anything that you do in school easy. From writing essays to mastering any math concept to acing even your most difficult final exam, The Straight-A Conspiracy takes you through the simple, stress-free ways to conquer any class in school. The truth about straight-A’s has been kept from you. It’s time you knew about The Straight-A Conspiracy.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Parenting, Psychology, Science, Personal Development

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 2012

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the book. Now I'm ready to start 'totaly ruling the world!'

This book is full of surprises. For one, I never thought I'd be so interested in reading a high school students essay on Romeo and Juliet.

Some nuggets I'm going to apply as I'm trying to learn new material:
- My goal should be to develop automaticity with anything I'm trying to learn
- When stuck, make a problem cake-mix clear
- Sherlock the material until it's interesting
- Be like a London taxi driver when trying to piece together lots of information
- Terminate to mistake proof

[Masato · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Straight-A Conspiracy: A Student's Secret Guide to Ending the Stress of High School and Totally Ruling the World
Hunter Maats & Katie O’Brien

“The Straight-A Conspiracy: A Student's Secret Guide to Ending the Stress of High School and Totally Ruling the World” written by Hunter Maats and Katie O’Brien is a nonfiction novel detailing how students can succeed in school stress-free. The aim of this book is to educate students on how to succeed in school in a way that won’t add excess stress. Students nowadays are constantly stressing and procrastinating over school work, and this book is here to change that.

The authors of this book are Hunter Maats and Katie O’Brien. These two authors set off to try to help students who were having a difficult time succeeding in school. They claim that they have explained how to finally succeed in school and get straight A’s. They say that students have been tricked into making school more difficult than it should be. This book has some very good points to help students become better learners and keep up with school work instead of procrastinating. I am not a big fan of how the book is laid out. There are many instances where there is doodle font or graffiti font and this seems a little childish to me. I do understand that this book is meant to be read by teenage students and that a book like this must not be too boring for the readers, but in my opinion the different fonts are a little excessive. After reading this book, I did not feel as though the material I had just read really connected with me. I believe that the suggestions they make in this book will most definitely work with other students, it’s just that in my case I was unable to take full advantage of their knowledge.

I somewhat enjoyed reading this book by Hunter Maats and Katie O’Brien. The message is a very positive one and I think it definitely should be read by students who are finding school to be a challenge. Readers who enjoy learning about new ideas and theories will enjoy this book very much. Readers who like having many images and diagrams to help them understand the material will appreciate this book very much. I would recommend this book to anyone struggling in a school setting and looking for a real fix to their problems.

[Martha Schwalbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm using this book with students this year.

[Darren Lipman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent resource for students and educators alike—in fact, for everybody. It gathers current research in psychology and learning and presents the information in an accessible and entertaining manner using clear examples, catchy mnemonics, and lots of cute illustrations that make every page inviting. The book’s end notes peel back this layer of metaphor and discusses the specific science underlying each key point (for example, deliberate practice is referred to as “fix-it-focused practice” in the book since this alliterative monicker also provides a useful definition of what makes practice deliberate). The only reason I didn’t give this book five stars is that I frequently felt their metaphors and analogies, while exceptionally effective at illustrating the concepts, were far more long-winded than necessary and would have benefited from being more concise. For novices turning to this book for help, especially low-skilled readers or English language learners, the sheer length of this book could become an obstacle to the troves of knowledge and wisdom it contains. As an aside, I think the book could be perfectly adapted into a series of short animated videos that would make the central messages far more accessible and easily distributed, and I hope the authors decide to do this at some point.

[Inger-Johanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to whether it might be useful for somebody I know. I like the way it is written, with goodhumored informal language, and clear examples. The authors also make good references to scientific research on the topic. I was convinced. My only hesitation is that the people who really need to read this book may not have the stamina to get through it.

[Lars Ankile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes you realize that there's more to learning than just IQ and hard work.

[Gary Capell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "Straight A Conspiracy" this book talks about is the "talent myth": she was born good at math, I wasn't, the end. This book encourages students (and we're all students of something, or very boring) that we can all become expert, by avoiding unrealistic expectations and practicing (properly). So far I've found the introduction to be annoying/wordy, but the meat of it has been encouraging/inspiring for myself. I expect that the ideas in here, if internalized, really could turn things around for not-great-so-far students (of anything). It looks like the latter portion of the book is more focused on school/academia, but it's been well worth my time/dollars already.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stumbled upon this book quite coincidentally, but as soon as started reading first lines it got my attention so far that I couldn't just stop reading it. It's not only for students, but everyone who struggles with focusing, procrastination and lack of motivation. It's just a treasure to get to know more about self-rationalization, how our brains operate, why we do certain actions in a usual way.
Enjoyed it fully. Have to say, most of it really helped me in my work to get focused and get my mind clear.

[Balameena Suresh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for students as well as parents!!

Absolutely Loved the book. It was simple, amazing, hilarious and packed with info. No fluff. Just straight up given every tricks and knacks to become a straight A student. Given in a way a teenager would shut up and LISTEN. A very inspiring book. You guys are awesome. Thanks so much, this book has helped me a lot !!! More books please!!

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cheesy. This may be good if you know nothing about learning or how the brain works. The author talks briefly about myelination and and neural pathways in the intro. The rest of the book is about how to automate rules and tasks in normal subjects for school. This book is definitely written for a teenager. No doubt about it.

[Faiz Rabbani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where was this book when I was in high school? I'm an MBA student and I find this very useful. This book takes learning and breaks down into a systematic process. It also lays out the logical/emotional fallacies that prevent people from learning and how to overcome them.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reading this off and on. This had some really good tips for school subjects and it was really helpful! It is by actual tutors and they relate very well. I recommend this to anyone who goes to school.

[Sean]

Heard about this on Joe Rogans podcast. Looking forward to reading.

[Thomas Maerke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't finished it, and I don't know if/when I ever will.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for every student and teacher!
I enjoyed talking with the authors.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prepping for study skills class. I think the kids will like this one... real brain research and proven techniques, in a middle-school friendly writing style.

[Pontus · Rating 3 out of 5]

cool book, and helpful for someone studying to become a teacher as well