Green Bay Gazette

Professor Teaches Students How To Study

Jean Peerenboom
Green Bay Gazette

Psssst, Professor Bernie Gaidosch has a secret and he’s willing to share it.

Over the years, he has learned a few things about succeeding in school and he shares those secrets in “The Professor’s Secrets: How to Write Essays and Term Papers” and “The Professor’s Secrets: How to Get Top Marks on Tests and Exams.”

Gaidosch teaches English at George Brown University, Toronto, Canada. “I looked at the low test scores and I was concerned,” he said. “I asked my students what they thought was missing. They started talking about missing grammar. ‘We got Shakespeare, not vocabulary or sentence structure,’ they told me.”

He said he thinks there’s a wall out there. “Students in high school learn curriculum not skills. They miss writing and studying skills. In post-secondary education, all you do is write and take tests.”

He started teaching techniques for getting focused, staying focused and moving ahead. “I was happier. Even my wife noticed I was happier. She suggested I write (the techniques) down.”

Gaidosch uses everyday examples, such as The Rolling Stones, to get students to talk about something that interests them. Then, he leads them through an outline for an essay and eventually, they have a full-fledged paper. “It’s a process and at the end, they get it,” he said.

He has been using his “fast-track” essay writing method and “best on the test” study strategies to help students for the past 10 years. “I’ve been able to take many from a C to a B or from a B to an A in as little as a week,” he said. He also has been on radio shows in Canada and the United States bringing his techniques into the public forum. The response from parents has been wonderful, he said.

“Parents either don’t know where to turn for help or are unaware of their kids’ problems in the first place,” he said. “Some are boomer parents who are so busy they don’t have time to be surrogate tutors for their kids in the evening. Others feel intimidated or embarrassed by their lack of knowledge of current curriculum. Still others can’t afford to send their kids to private schools or to pay for tutoring.”

Gaidosch’s study tips include:

• Have a box of index cards for each course. After every lecture, take notes from your notes. Jot down the highlights, write them on a card, date it and file it in the box. At test time, you will have an outline for the course to guide your study.

• Recycle your efforts. Save your tests and put them in a file. At exam time, go over what you did well and what questions you missed.

• Use a study guide. Make it fun by turning it into a game, using fruits and nuts as prizes. This way you can learn from your classmates.

• Go for quality over quantity. “Don’t get suckered by people around you who are scribbling furiously,” he writes.

• Stay away from friends who want to suck your energy dry by dragging you to movies, clubs or shopping. Instead, use these activities as rewards. Do your school work, and reward yourself with a movie.

Gaidosch’s workbooks are available by calling toll free (877) 439-3999 or through his Web site at www.profsecrets.com.

To top of page.

Home | Who Is Professor Bernie? | Media Coverage | Comments | Contact Professor Bernie | The Professor's Secrets Success-In-School Senior Edition For High School, College & University Students | The Professor's Secrets Junior Edition For Grades 1 - 6