Visual Learner
How to Study as a Visual Learner: Maps, Color and the Blank-Page Test
If your result was visual, you probably remember where information sat on the page, the color of the highlighter and the shape of the teacher's diagram. That is a good starting point for studying. But starting from a strength is not staying in it: this guide uses the visual as a way in and also trains the other channels.
An honest warning: VARK measures preference, not ability. The review by Pashler and colleagues (2008, Psychological Science in the Public Interest) concluded there is no adequate evidence that teaching in the "preferred style" improves learning. What research does support is that self-testing and spaced review work for everybody, and that is what the plan below does with pictures.
Take the quizAction plan
Turn each chapter into a one-page map
Take a sheet and put the topic in the center, the main concepts around it and arrows with verbs on the links ("causes", "depends on", "contradicts"). The verbs keep the map from becoming decoration. If you cannot write the verb, you have not yet understood the relationship.
Use a fixed color code, and few colors
Pick three or four colors with a job: blue for definition, green for example, red for exception. Random color gives a feeling of care and no information. A color wheel helps you choose shades that stay distinct on paper and on screen.
Do the blank-page test
After building the diagram, hide it and redraw it from memory on another sheet. Compare and fix what was missing in another color. That attempt to recall is what fixes the material, and research on retrieval practice (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006) shows testing yourself beats rereading.
Build a timeline for sequence-based subjects
History, biological processes and workflows gain from a horizontal line with dated milestones. For processes, a simple flowchart in a diagram editor will do. Stick the line on the wall and scan it for 30 seconds before each session.
Close the loop with three written sentences
Each diagram ends with three sentences in your own words, written and then said aloud. Without this, the diagram is only an image. With it, you train precisely the channels you are least used to and that exams, interviews and meetings will demand.
Common pitfalls
Spending the session making it pretty
Ten minutes of polish turn into an hour without notice. Put a time limit on the drawing.
Copying the teacher's diagram
A ready-made diagram teaches less than one you made, even an ugly one. The work of organizing is part of the learning.
Frequently asked questions
There is no evidence of that. Images help many people with spatial or structural content, but combining them with explanation in words is usually better for everybody.