Kathleen Straker, M.Ed. and Eugenia Kelman, Ph.D. have taken their years of research, student advising and workshop experience and distilled it into workbooks for self-study. They present self-diagnostic tools and proven strategies that can be applied by students of any discipline. These skills are a must for students embarking on a rigorous course of study. The books are also an excellent resource for advisers, counselors and faculty.

If you are looking for a systematic approach to your studies, look no further. Each of our workbooks provides assessment tools for measuring current study habits and numerous strategies for improving them.

Written for three specific audiences, our books help students:

• Reduce stress by developing a manageable schedule
• Get the most out of lectures
• Create highly organized notes for easy review and self-testing
• Recall and apply information for exams and laboratory work
• Improve long-term memory
• Increase concentration
• Reduce test anxiety
• Take exams with confidence

Six Steps to College Success

Six Steps to College Success is written for college students who want to take charge of their own learning. The strategies taught were originally developed for graduate, medical, dental, veterinary and nursing students. But these techniques proved to be so successful that undergraduate students requested their own version of the book. Though aimed at students in health sciences and STEM fields, the strategies work for motivated students in any discipline.

Study Without Stress

Too much to learn—too little time! Nothing characterizes the professional school experience better than this expression. Used by medical, veterinary, dental, pharmacy, physician assistant and graduate students, this book draws from the authors’ many study skills and stress management workshops. Written in an easy-to-read conversational style, Study Without Stress contains the keys to academic success in the most rigorous programs.

Innovations in Nursing Education

Published by the National League for Nursing, Innovations in Nursing Education: Building the Future of Nursing, Volume 2 encourages innovation and excellence in nursing education through alignment with the 2011 IOM Future of Nursing recommendations.

Chapter 4, Nursing Student Retention Strategy: An Integrated Study Skills Elective by I.N. Igbo, M.J. Landson and K.C. Straker, describes an elective that was developed to improve retention and graduation of ethnically diverse nursing students.

An Innovative, Multidisciplinary Strategy to Improve Retention of Nursing Students from Disadvantaged Backgrounds

Nursing students from disadvantaged backgrounds must overcome many barriers in order to succeed. This article will focus on how a multidisciplinary team helped 76 percent of these high-risk students persist in their nursing programs by addressing some of these barriers. Three baccalaureate nursing schools in the Texas Medical Center embarked on a three-year retention program designed to enhance the success of students identified by federal criteria as being at risk. Multidisciplinary teams led various activities, including a study skills component, which included preparing for lectures, taking notes, critical thinking, and test-taking strategies. Also addressed were written and oral communication skills, medical terminology, critical thinking, career coaching, and socialization activities. Collaboration among faculty and students at the three schools was key to the success of the program.