A study was conducted to investigate some basic learning activities in order to identify strategies that make learning more effortless. Study topics focus on acquisition of new second-language vocabulary, students' organization of their notebooks, studying for tests, observation of classroom communication, and test-taking strategies. Nineteen native English-speaking students from the United States who were spending their junior year in Israel were studied. They were taking an intensive Hebrew program for two months, followed by a field experience, and then less intensive Hebrew studies. A language background questionnaire was administered to the students to obtain pre-instruction profiles. Study results suggest that if students used some associational patterns for learning vocabulary, the words were retained successfully over time. No one note-taking or review method is appropriate for all students, but students did not differ much in basic note-taking and review patterns, as revealed by self-report. Students themselves can be a good source of information concerning study tips. Good and bad communicative strategies appeared across class levels and were used both by better and poorer students. It was demonstrated that it is difficult for an outside observer to establish the actual source of the error and to identify the learner strategy being employed without consulting the learners. Six suggestions about how to take tests were generated. The language background questionnaire is appended. (SW)