See how visual learning can boost your exam performance and grades
With so many schools focusing on written and auditory learning, effective study tips for visual learners can be difficult to come by even though visual learners are common.
For many students, good study habits begin with finding a way to incorporate visual learning into their work. Even students who may not be visual learners can benefit from these techniques which can improve recall, organisation and creativity. Bhavin Shah, Behavioural Optometrist and visual performance coach gives us his top 5 visual learning tips…
Are you a visual learner?
- Do you like to see issues from different angles?
- Do you prefer to process information through graphs, diagrams and infographics?
- Do you have an easy time understanding and remembering visual patterns?
- Do you like to map out facts and solutions?
Does that sound like you? If so, try out some of these study tips for visual learners. You may find that they help you form good study habits and give your grades a shot in the arm.
1. Mind Maps
Mind maps, or concept maps, help organise ideas visually in a way the brain finds easy to process. The most common way to do this is to put the main idea in the centre of the page, then draw lines out to secondary ideas.
This is a great visual learning tool because it lets you see how different thoughts relate to each other.
2. Graphs
In terms of understanding and remembering numerical data, this is probably the most important of our study tips for visual learners. Pie charts, and other graphics assist with visual learning by putting abstract numbers into context.
3. Colour Coding
This is sometimes an overlooked study tips for visual learners, colour coding can be a huge help. Keep a few different highlighters when you take notes, so you can group similar ideas together and underscore important concepts.
4. Visualisation
Creating visual images in your mind is an extremely powerful way of remembering and understanding of your study material. Try to envision the information as a picture in your imagination as your own created story, the more detailed and vivid the thought the easier it is to recall.
Crazy and made up mental images work particularly well. Making your own visual story of your revision information will help you to picture it from different angles and remember it better.
5. Start handwriting not typing
It may seem old fashioned but the latest research proves that handwriting your notes means you are much more likely to remember them than if you typed them on a computer or other device.
Students who wrote notes long-hand understood and remembered the content more successfully and scored higher when quizzed compared to laptop note takers.
Bonus tip: Now you’re working with a pen and paper start drawing your study content. Hand drawn diagrams and illustrations are fantastic way to turbo boost your memory and understanding of the material.
Bhavin Shah, Behavioural Optometrist, BSc Optom (hons), MCOptom, is Director of Central Vision Opticians based in Finchley & Kingsbury.
