What type of studying suits you best?

Every one of us is applying different studying methods, some of them are very effective others are not. The basic types of studying are Visual, Auditory, Emotional and Kinesthetic, but most of us are combining these three types unconsciously.

• Visual Learners

A Visual learner can study in an effective way when the learning material is depicted in a visual way; e.g. in the form of charts, maps or brainstorming. In order to study effectively, you should try to transfer the learning material into tables, charts or whatever suits you most that allows you to depict your material. Another very helpful tip is to highlight important notes in your study material with colorful markers.

• Auditory Learners

An Auditory learner can study most effective when he can hear the material that needs to be remembered. You can do this by recording yourself reading your most important notes and mentioning the most important aspects or points of a topic. Afterward, you can listen to what you have recorded and visualize the important aspects you are talking about. After you finished listening to your record you can try to summarize what you just heard by explaining it to yourself. Another very effective way for an auditory learner is to join learning groups where he can speak with like-minded people about the study material.

• Emotional Learners

Emotional learners can improve their study skills by associating feelings and emotions towards their studying material. I have discovered for myself that one of the most effective ways for me to remember something is by associating emotions with the topic that I would like to memorize. I noticed this as I found myself being able to remember nearly every title and name of the artists of songs that I really liked, without any effort! The more positive emotions I can associate the more likely I will remember it.

• Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners can study most effective when they can experience what they have to study. “Learning by doing” would be an excellent description for a kinesthetic learner, as they seek for distraction while studying (TV, music, etc.) and want to experience their studies more physical. This can be achieved by changing the study-place more often, pacing around the room or studying while in activities such as ironing, riding the exercise bike, eating or watching TV. Besides this, it is important to experience the study material, which can be achieved by visualizing what needs to remembered. It is very important to note that the kinesthetic studying methods only work for kinesthetic learners as they tend to distract the other learning types.