Study Tips for Visual Learners

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Make your work as visual as possible. Make charts, graphs, tables. Take detailed notes during lectures and compare them with someone else to be sure you have gotten down all the important points. Leave lots of extra space in your notes so you can add ideas or details later. Highlight important information in your notes and books. Write down anything that is important for you to remember.

Ask instructor to repeat statements whenever necessary. Tape record important lectures whenever possible. (Record them all. Save and label only those that you feel are important. Tape over the others.)

Sit at the front and center of your classroom. Your attention will tend to be where your eyes are. Make it easy to keep your eyes on your work by arrange your study pace so that you don’t look directly out the door or window.

Participate actively in classes. Ask questions. Contribute your ideas. This will keep you involved and alert in an otherwise very auditory situation.

Work in a quiet place. Many visual learners, however, do find that they can do math better with music in the background.

Think on paper. Before you bin a project tor a study session, write down your goals and the steps you must go through to achieve them.

Work alone. Visual learners often find it difficult to work and talk at the same time, even when the talking is about the work.

When memorizing factual material, write it over and over. Though it is faster to speak this sort of material over and over, you will tend to learn it much faster if you write it.

Use spatial note-taking techniques such as mind mapping or clustering. These allow for non-sequential production of non-sequential material. Also, try spelling techniques that focus on the “shape” of words rather than sounding them out.

Keep pencil and paper handy so you can write down good ideas. This can be particularly helpful when you’re working on a long-term project when you may often get ideas when you’re not at your desk. You may also want to keep pencil and paper by your bed at night so you can write down ideas you get in your sleep.

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