How to Improve Your Ability to Learn Quickly
Identify your learning style., Use mnemonic devices., Study with images., Engage your senses., Make connections., Emphasize recall., Tell a story., Create a mindmap.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Identify your learning style.
By determining your learning style, you can determine the best techniques to help you retain information more effectively.
Many people have multiple learning styles while some people may just have one dominant style.
Figure out which style works best for you.Auditory learners pick up information by listening to it.
Lectures, podcasts, discussion groups, and videos may work best for you.
Visual learners gain new information by watching it.
Charts, diagrams, pictures, films, and written material is most beneficial for these types.
Kinesthetic learners adopt new practices by doing them.
Participation in an activity, such as a science lab, discussion group, or hands-on class, may help you learn more effectively. -
Step 2: Use mnemonic devices.
These are quick tricks designed to increase the amount of information that your brain can remember.
They work by getting you to organize information into memorable patterns.
The song “I can sing a rainbow” is one example; it is used to remember color names.If you need to recall a set of numbers, break them down in sections containing three numbers each and memorize the sequence.
This is called “chunking” and is one reason why social security numbers and telephone numbers are broken up into groups.
Recall a set of letters by creating an acronym.
This is a word formed out of the first letters in a word or phrase.
For example, musicians looking to remember the bass staff note order ACEG could memorize the phrase, “All Cows Eat Grass.” Keep tricky pieces of information in your mind via rhyming.
For a college history exam, “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen-hundred and ninety-two.” , Transform written information or numbers lists into visuals, such as a chart, graph, or map.
Creating images like these increases your mind's flexibility which, in turn, helps with its ability to remember new information.
Don’t worry if the final product isn’t perfect; assigning images is a very individual thing.Associate a person’s name with a particular image, such as Robin with a bird.
Or, when you meet Brad, picture him alongside the famous Brad Pitt.
The visuals do not have to be similar for the memory to stick in your mind.
Learn the mobile numbers of all your friends by making a mental picture of every number (0-9).
Think of a pencil for 1; for 2, think of the head of the duck and so forth.
After keeping a picture in your mind for every number, develop a story based on those pictures.
Make sure the sequence is not altered. , If you need notes, take them by hand and via audio recorder.
Then, type them up afterwards.
The more ways that you experience something, the better you learn it.
Use as many of your senses as you can, perhaps by playing a song as you study., You come to every task with tons of prior knowledge; use it.
Ask yourself where you have seen this particular type of information before.
For example, if you are writing an essay, remember what worked the last time you turned something in.Connect dates that you are trying to learn with important ones in your memory.
It can be your school team winning, your mother's birthday, father's birthday, or any date that is significant to you.
You can even break up the dates and remember months based on Zodiac signs. , Push your mind to remember every detail in the moment and to make the larger connections later as you talk with others about your experience.
Watch a lab demonstration and then discuss your observations with your lab partner afterwards.
Pay attention to what your partner noticed that you missed and vice versa., Benefit from the power of an interesting tale.
There is a reason why creation stories are remembered and passed from generation to generation.
They excite while also passing along knowledge.
If you are working with a group, build a story together.
For example, if you are studying the history of U.S. presidents, make up a story about each one.
Or, better yet, find a real story to remember. , A mindmap is a visual chart that uses branches and lines to demonstrate the relationship between ideas.
These are great for visual learners.
Write the main idea in a box in the center of a piece of a paper, and draw branches off the center to identify similar ideas.
Keep drawing out branches to new sources of information, and connect ideas with lines or images. -
Step 3: Study with images.
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Step 4: Engage your senses.
-
Step 5: Make connections.
-
Step 6: Emphasize recall.
-
Step 7: Tell a story.
-
Step 8: Create a mindmap.
Detailed Guide
By determining your learning style, you can determine the best techniques to help you retain information more effectively.
Many people have multiple learning styles while some people may just have one dominant style.
Figure out which style works best for you.Auditory learners pick up information by listening to it.
Lectures, podcasts, discussion groups, and videos may work best for you.
Visual learners gain new information by watching it.
Charts, diagrams, pictures, films, and written material is most beneficial for these types.
Kinesthetic learners adopt new practices by doing them.
Participation in an activity, such as a science lab, discussion group, or hands-on class, may help you learn more effectively.
These are quick tricks designed to increase the amount of information that your brain can remember.
They work by getting you to organize information into memorable patterns.
The song “I can sing a rainbow” is one example; it is used to remember color names.If you need to recall a set of numbers, break them down in sections containing three numbers each and memorize the sequence.
This is called “chunking” and is one reason why social security numbers and telephone numbers are broken up into groups.
Recall a set of letters by creating an acronym.
This is a word formed out of the first letters in a word or phrase.
For example, musicians looking to remember the bass staff note order ACEG could memorize the phrase, “All Cows Eat Grass.” Keep tricky pieces of information in your mind via rhyming.
For a college history exam, “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen-hundred and ninety-two.” , Transform written information or numbers lists into visuals, such as a chart, graph, or map.
Creating images like these increases your mind's flexibility which, in turn, helps with its ability to remember new information.
Don’t worry if the final product isn’t perfect; assigning images is a very individual thing.Associate a person’s name with a particular image, such as Robin with a bird.
Or, when you meet Brad, picture him alongside the famous Brad Pitt.
The visuals do not have to be similar for the memory to stick in your mind.
Learn the mobile numbers of all your friends by making a mental picture of every number (0-9).
Think of a pencil for 1; for 2, think of the head of the duck and so forth.
After keeping a picture in your mind for every number, develop a story based on those pictures.
Make sure the sequence is not altered. , If you need notes, take them by hand and via audio recorder.
Then, type them up afterwards.
The more ways that you experience something, the better you learn it.
Use as many of your senses as you can, perhaps by playing a song as you study., You come to every task with tons of prior knowledge; use it.
Ask yourself where you have seen this particular type of information before.
For example, if you are writing an essay, remember what worked the last time you turned something in.Connect dates that you are trying to learn with important ones in your memory.
It can be your school team winning, your mother's birthday, father's birthday, or any date that is significant to you.
You can even break up the dates and remember months based on Zodiac signs. , Push your mind to remember every detail in the moment and to make the larger connections later as you talk with others about your experience.
Watch a lab demonstration and then discuss your observations with your lab partner afterwards.
Pay attention to what your partner noticed that you missed and vice versa., Benefit from the power of an interesting tale.
There is a reason why creation stories are remembered and passed from generation to generation.
They excite while also passing along knowledge.
If you are working with a group, build a story together.
For example, if you are studying the history of U.S. presidents, make up a story about each one.
Or, better yet, find a real story to remember. , A mindmap is a visual chart that uses branches and lines to demonstrate the relationship between ideas.
These are great for visual learners.
Write the main idea in a box in the center of a piece of a paper, and draw branches off the center to identify similar ideas.
Keep drawing out branches to new sources of information, and connect ideas with lines or images.
About the Author
Diana Green
Specializes in breaking down complex hobbies topics into simple steps.
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