Best Memorization Tips For Every Learning Style

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Student Lifehacks
memorization tips

Everyone knows how hard it can be to prepare for exams in subjects where a lot of memorization is required. We all remember those kids at school who would dedicate all their time to studying. Can you recall their nicknames as well? Book worms! They would usually succeed better than anyone else in the class in those subjects that required a lot of reading! Many people believed that these kids had superior talents to other classmates, but they could not have been more mistaken.

According to recent research, different people learn differently, which is why so many people struggle within the current education system. It does not cater to the variety of learning styles in the classrooms! There is no one-size-fits-all model!

Best Memorization Tips For Every Learning Style 1

When it comes to memory, it is important to know how your brain processes and retains the information. According to science, there are 3 main learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Throughout school, you might have already understood what learning style lets you remember things more efficiently. The most helpful guide in the science of learning is the exciting book “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning” by Peter Brown et al. Hurry up to get this book because it will be a game-changer: you will finally know what are the latest scientific stands about binge-learning, mind-mapping, index card, and other memorization and learning tricks.

At the same time, you might find it difficult to apply this knowledge to your actual studying efforts. That is why BooksRun prepared the best memorization tips for every learning style out there. Check our clues below to minimize your revision time for the upcoming exams!

The Visual Learner 

You are a visual learner if you feel at ease with grasping information through textbooks, graphs, photographs, and any other written texts. Your perception of information does not necessarily need to happen in two dimensions. If you can quickly pick information up by watching other people demonstrating things, you can count yourself as a visual learner as well. 

Traditional academic learning has always been associated with visual learning, i.e., feeding your eyes with information. There is nothing wrong with it if reading works best for you—try this technique to make learning from textbooks even more effective. 

Auditory Learners

memory tips for auditory learners
Designed by drobotdean / Freepik

In an academic environment, the most apparent auditory learning happens at lectures and presentations. Many people do not like to show up for lectures, but it is the primary way for auditory learners to memorize new information. If you are one of those who receive information through the ears, you can find numerous ways how you can receive this type of information. Don’t worry—going to lectures is only one way to do it! You can buy textbook CDs to prepare for the exams, you can listen to podcasts and other videos, and you can ask your friends to record audio during lectures and listen to the recordings afterward. Also, you can organize a study group where you can talk to your friends and memorize the same information found in textbooks. This approach is used by many actors who try to memorize their lines. 

In case you do not want to involve anyone else in your learning process, you can read the information out loud to yourself and listen. One extra memory life hack is to transform the information you need to remember into a song or a poem. Rhythm and keywords will help you to remember the information easier and for a longer time.

Kinesthetic Learners

The difference between kinesthetic and other types of learners is that they understand the information by doing things. This way of memorizing requires a little bit more creative and independent thinking since the traditional academic environment does not provide a lot of opportunities to perform physical movements or actions.

The key principle is to turn your studying process into an activity. For example, you can find a way to create physical models for your classes where you need to present the information schematically. You can come up with a series of physical tasks that will require you to answer certain questions to progress through. Sometimes bouncing a ball against a wall or even squeezing it (you all remember the methods of Dr. House, right?) can stimulate the neurons in your brain to review the information faster and more consistently. This means that such physical connections will help you remember the information better. 

Memorization Tips for Each and Every Learning Style

memorization tips for various learning styles
Designed by sewcream / Freepik

The learning styles we’ve covered above correspond to traditional memorizing concepts. If we go further and consider the learning styles covered by Howard Gardner in his theory of multiple intelligence, we will be able to establish eight learning methods. We would like to note here that most people have a combination of these memorization types, but still, they have a preferred method of processing information. There is no right way to learn; each way has its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, if you think that a certain category fits you best of all—for example, social learning—this does not mean that you will fail in any other subjects that involve the use of logical learning, such as math and science. We are only here to offer you a greater understanding of how to uniquely process information rather than to indicate the limit to your capabilities. Let’s have a look below at the studying methods that can be addressed within a classroom, according to Howard Gardner:

1. Visual Learning Style

This category of visual or spatial learners is similar to the traditional concept of learning styles. These are right-brained learners who are good at reading information visually but can struggle with arithmetic and numbers generally. Very commonly considered “late bloomers” due to their difficulties in mastering reading and writing, such people look at the world differently. They can think outside the box and are imaginative; they are able to process information quickly concerning what they see.

Ways to improve information retention: 

  • Photographs are particularly useful if you need to remember historical events without turning them into a very complex task. 
  • Diagrams will help you to visualize scientific phenomena, chains of events, and grammar patterns.
  • Fonts and colors: you can use additional visual cues to help the words stand out visually and stick in your mind better. Replace words with colors and images! Highlight important information in the text.
  • Outlines: create outlines with different levels instead of blocks of text.
  • Digital technology and tools can assist your learning process.

2. Verbal Learning Style

This type of learners process information through the use of language. They excel at reading, speaking, listening, and writing—everything that involves the use of words. They have an excellent memory for the things they have read and enjoy playing word games, rhymes, and tongue twisters. Another feature is their love for mastering new foreign languages as well as drama and speech classes. 

Ways to speed up your memorization process:

  • Take notes, reread, and systemize them.
  • Make summaries of your notes.
  • Go over old tests.
  • Create keywords lists, and use key phrases to remember concepts.
  • Use acronyms to help you recall the information.

3. Logical Learning Style

These people are highly skilled in logical reasoning. It means that logical learners can easily decipher abstract information that they see, and they are highly capable of the analysis of cause and effect relationships. They have a tendency to think linearly. People with solid logical reasoning classify and group information easily, and they like to create different-ordered lists and itineraries. Logical learners can perform complex calculations in their heads; they like playing strategy games such as chess and backgammon.

Ways to improve how you remember information:

  • It is important to understand the concepts behind your professors’ lectures. It is not enough just to memorize.
  • You can extract key information from statistics and facts to create lists.
  • You can turn the notes from your lessons into strategic games.
  • You can speed up your thinking process with the help of computer math games and brain teasers.
  • Set up specific goals and record your progress.

4. Auditory Learning Style

The auditory learner (musical) receives information and thinks in sounds rather than in images. They have an incredible memory for conversations, and they like to participate in debates and discussions. With strong language skills, they usually do better than others during oral exams. Also, they have a musical talent that lets them discern individual notes, rhymes, and tones. The difficulties that auditory learners usually experience are linked to the interpretation of facial expressions and gestures as well as complex graphs and charts. 

Ways to enhance memorizing the information:

  • You should participate in as many discussions and debates as possible.
  • Read the text to yourself aloud.
  • Listen to music while you go over the material.
  • Compose rhymes to remember new material better.
  • Use mnemonic techniques.

5. Social Learning Style

freshmen students
Designed by Freepik

The social (interpersonal) learner receives information from everywhere. People who have this way of learning think chronologically and tend to perceive information through step-by-step methods. They have an outstanding memory for conversations; they learn best through interacting with other people and bouncing their ideas off them. People with a social learning style are gifted at reading emotions and facial expressions of people as well as relationship dynamics. 

Ways to speed up the process of retention of information:

  • Organize cooperative learning settings.
  • Enhance learning through role-playing.
  • Teach others the things you have learned.
  • Participate in language exchange programs.
  • Interview others to learn about their perspectives.

6. Intrapersonal Learning Style

Solitary or intrapersonal learners prefer to study and work on their own. These people understand their feelings as well as what they are capable of doing and what they are not. Such learners are very independent and learn something new every day, and they are gifted in self-management and self-reflection. 

Ways to improve your memory capacity:

  • You should aim for comfortable places to study on your own.
  • Set up your personal learning goals and track progress regularly.
  • Analyze what you already know and plan new material to learn.
  • Establish connections between the material you have already learned and the new material.

7. Physical Learning Style

Kinesthetic, aka physical learners, always do something with their hands and always move around. They need to involve their bodies in the learning process to memorize most efficiently. By this, we mean everything from creating work with your own hands to manipulating what is being learned. These people tend to walk back and forth when reading texts to stimulate their brains to learn new information. It should not be surprising that physical learners are gifted in sports and prefer to live in the current moment rather than in the future or in the past.

Ways to improve your memory capacity:

  • Attend offline classes since they give hands-on experience and represent the ideal method of learning for you.
  • When doing physical activities such as walking or riding a bike, try to recite the material you have learned before.
  • Use role-playing to practice subject material.
  • Try to teach other people the information you have memorized already.
  • Make graphs, pictures, and maps to involve all your senses in the learning process.

8. Naturalistic Learning Style

naturalistic learning style
Designed by Freepik

People with a naturalistic learning approach feel best at processing information related to nature and when they apply scientific reasoning. Best farmers, naturalists, and scientists tend to have such a mindset. They enjoy being outdoors, like observing and appreciating flora and fauna in rural settings.

Ways to enhance memorizing the information:

  • Imagine a new ecosystem with the help of learning material—this will help you understand different patterns.
  • Identify and classify different plants and animals.
  • Try to select topics related to nature and people since this will increase your interest in the subject matter.
  • Always observe and record data—approach your daily life and learning environment as though you are carrying out field research.

Iliana K