High School and University Study Guides

High School and University Study Guides by Dr Mark Lopez

High School and University Study Guides, by Dr Mark Lopez

Dr Mark Lopez is an expert private tutor, author, and astute media commentator on the state of education in Australia.

An education system, even an excellent one, presents students with many challenges.  A flawed education system, as exists in Australia, presents additional challenges.   Dr Mark Lopez is devoted to helping students and their families get the best out of an education system that offers benefits but also presents many potential pitfalls and injustices that could snare the unwary.  Consequently, he has produced two innovative and invaluable STUDY GUIDES:

  • The Little Black Schoolbook, Volume 1 (Essays)
  • The Little Black Schoolbook, Volume 2 (Exams)

These study guides have helped many students succeed in the current Australian education system.  They can be used to get a student successfully through high school and then through university.

Importantly, Dr Mark Lopez intended these study guides to provide the break though for those who were stuck and did not know where to turn or how to transcend their dilemma.

Students will discover how to become more self-reliant and how to put themselves securely in the driver’s seat of their educational journey.  Students will also learn how to turn what previously held them back (like biased examiners) into advantages that propel them forward.

These publications are best purchased together and read sequentially, but they can also be ordered individually, and used however you wish, depending on your needs.

Dr Mark Lopez has directed some students making inquires about lessons to purchase the study guides, and, later, after their purchase, they rang back to say that they found the advice in them so valuable they did not need lessons.

Dr Mark Lopez uses the knowledge in these study guides continually in his lessons.  However, to teach the material in these study guides would take more than 50 hours, yet both books can be purchased for under the price of one lesson, which makes them excellent value.

Dr Mark Lopez has also made available on this website helpful STUDY NOTES: ‘The Meaning in a Nutshell’, a series that provides concise statements of the meaning of specific English texts studied at school.


Read more about English Tutor and Author Mark Lopez PhD.

Dr Lopez’s Publications and Education Resources for Students doing the VCE and seeking a high ATAR 

The Little Black Schoolbook Volume 1 Essays —  by Dr Mark Lopez — Study Guide

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The Little Black School Book: Volume 1 Essays
The Secret to Getting Straight ‘As’ at School and University

ISBN:  9781921421075  Connor Court Price: $29.95 AUSTRALIA


Overview of THE LITTLE BLACK SCHOOLBOOK — Volume 1 — Essays

  • Helps you understand how the Australian education system really works
  • Demonstrates how to turn the Australian education system’s strengths and weaknesses to YOUR advantage.

The Little Black Schoolbook does for education what Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince did for politics.

  • The Little Black Schoolbook, Volume 1 – Essays covers:
    • research
    • essay writing
    • clear thinking
    • expression
    • in innovative ways that give students solid skills and confidence.

But more than this, The Little Black Schoolbook shows students what goes on in examiners’ minds and, more importantly, how to capitalise decisively on this insight.

Order from Connor Court Publishing


The Little Black Schoolbook Volume 2 — Exams

ISBN:  9781921421075  Connor Court Price: $29.95 AUSTRALIA

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Order from Connor Publishing

Connor Court Price: $29.95 AUSTRALIA

Or order from BOOKTOPIA



Overview of THE LITTLE BLACK SCHOOLBOOK – Volume 2 – Exams (Author: Mark Lopez, PhD)

  • The Little Black Schoolbook, Volume 2 — Exams provides you with powerfully effective exam techniques.
  • It offers comprehensive coverage on exam planning, preparation and performance.
  • Dr Mark Lopez helps you cultivate the personal qualities that make success more likely. He explains the examination system, including what goes on in examiners’ minds while they assess student work.
  • As well as showing you how to get A’s from capable, competent educators, these indispensable insights also reveal how to consistently triumph EVEN if your examiner is biased, jaded or prejudiced.

Mark Lopez PhD — Presentations and Radio — Media

ABC Radio National — Counterpoint program – Launch of The Little Black School Book by Mark Lopez PhD

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/counterpoint/the-little-black-school-book/3162182

Dr Mark Lopez’s recent book on education: School Sucks: A Report on the State of Education in the Politically Correct Era

Read more here or read Chapter 1: The scourge of the five paragraph essay (and TEEL)

School Sucks book by Dr Mark Lopez


Watch Dr Mark Lopez’s Book Launch VIDEOS on YouTube

The Little Black Schoolbook, Volume 1, Book Launch Speech – October 2008

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The Little Black Schoolbook, Volume 2, book launch speech, September 2009

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You can also read about the meanings of specific English texts in Dr Mark Lopez’s The Meaning in a Nutshell series — available to read for free on this website