Know your Learning Style for an Effective Revision

February 14th, 2010

With exams round the corner, all you students out there will be busy gearing up for the challenging times ahead. After round-the-year study sessions, the time has come to prepare yourself for the essential revision exercise.

To make your learning effective you may add a customized touch to your revision notes by tailoring it as per your own learning style. Now, you might be wondering what are ‘learning styles’?

Learning Style refers to the characteristic way in which an individual acquires, perceives and processes information. It is important to note that there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ learning styles, but only preferred learning styles. Thus, in simple words, a dominant style that helps you process and learn information faster can be classified as your learning style. On the basis of their learning styles learners can be broadly categorized into three types i.e. Visual learners, Auditory learners and Tactile learners, each with their respective learning styles. Here are a few points that will give your some more insight on the prime characteristics of the different types of learners and help you customize your revision notes according to the style that suits you the best.

Visual learners learn best by looking at graphics, watching a demonstration, or reading about it. So while preparing their revision notes visual learners are advised to support it with pictures, charts, maps, graphs etc. Use of colour to highlight important text in the revision notes also works wonders with such learners. To accelerate the pace of revision and to make learning effective visual learners can also try visualizing information as a picture or an image. This will help them retain information for a longer period of time.

The second type of learners are Auditory learners. Such learners prefer listening to concepts being explained rather than reading about them in text books. They prefer classroom discussions over individual study sessions. In some cases auditory learners may feel the need for an absolutely quiet place as they attempt to commit key information to memory, as they are often unable to handle distractions created due to noise. If you are an auditory learner, pre-recorded lectures on a tape recorder may also serve as excellent revision notes for you. Try creating musical jingles, using mnemonics, and discussing ideas verbally to aid speedy revision.

Tactile learners process information best through a ‘hands-on’ experience. If you think that actually doing an activity is the easiest way to learn information then your dominant learning style is that of a tactile learner. While preparing revision notes, a tactile learner is advised to write or type their own notes. When they sit down to study a tactile learner may want to hold the revision notes in his/her hands instead of keeping them on the table.  To further make learning effective they can prepare flash cards for each step in a procedure based concept and regularly challenge themselves to arrange the cards in the correct sequence. These learners should also include a lot of real-life examples and case studies in their revision notes. To reinforce learning, tactile learners can even choose to play their way through concept-based puzzles and games available on websites such as meritnation.com.

Having gained some indications about your dominant learning style, it is time to go ahead and make the most of your revision time.

All the very best for your exams!

Cheers!
Team Meritnation