Learning is a skill like any other, and learning to learn will help any motivated student get ahead. But not all minds are created alike, and any given style can be a help or a hindrance, depending on whether the student fights natural tendencies or incorporates them.
What follows is a series of learning styles, and recommendations aimed at helping each type improve study habits and note-taking skills.
These profiles are based both on Neil Fleming's VARK learning profile, which the reader may be familiar with as "visual/auditory/kinesthetic", and on the attention patterns often classified as "disorders." Despite the labeling, these can also simply be seen as mental traits which are advantageous under certain circumstances, and disadvantageous in others, as per the neurodiversity theory.
The Filing Wizard
The Filing Wizard stores knowledge outside the mind. Usually a visual learner or a reading/writing learner, he or she fills reams of paper with detailed, organized notes. It's harder for this learning type to break out of the box and answer a question without referencing her or his files, but on open-notes exams, the Filing Wizard is unparalleled.
The Filing Wizard usually has an easy task ahead when studying in a conventional college environment. Well-organized note-takers usually have consistent, decent grades when studying under the didactic model. To take her or his good scores up into the excellent range, however, the student may need to pursue understanding beyond the simple, factual level.
Tips on study habits: Ability to reiterate the material doesn't always require a deep understanding, and in some environments, it's important to look deeper. For the Filing Wizard, a good question to ask when returning to notes is "Could I apply this in the real world, without having every step in front of me?"
Recommendations for notes: Recopy for better information retention, and compare notes with other students in order to discover new perspectives.
The Communicator
For the Communicator, studying makes more sense when it takes place in groups. An active discussion in the lecture hall is an ideal learning environment. This individual is usually an auditory learner, or aural learner, on the VARK profile, and also often an extrovert. (For more information about introversion and extroversion, read about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.)
Discussing the problem out loud seems natural, and the Communicator may have trouble if forced to study individually or silently. The Communicator might or might not have some ADD traits, but generally doesn't have autistic traits.
Tips on study habits: A student of this learning type should avoid making shared errors by keeping in mind this fact: even if someone else arrived at a certain answer, that does not make that answer correct. Working alongside a study buddy first independently, then together, can help Communicators check their work.
Recommendations for notes: A good practice for the Communicator is reading notes aloud. Recording lectures and listening to them again later can ensure extra retention.
The Absent-Minded Professor
The Absent-Minded Professor shuts away the outside world in order to focus on a thought. This person may switch from one thought to another rapidly, but cannot usually pay attention to two unrelated things at once; for example, she or he might walk around the house with one shoe on to retrieve a suddenly remembered belonging.
The Absent-Minded Professor is often classified as having attention deficit disorder, Asperger's or mild autism, and is often a reading/writing learner or sometimes a kinesthetic learner on the VARK profile. Students of this learning type usually have a stronger-than-normal ability to draw connections between ideas, leading to high potential for creativity and innovation.
Tips on study habits: Absent-Minded Professors are capable of intense focus, but depend on being able to switch tracks occasionally and "get a breath of fresh thinking", which can lead to distraction. With several well-defined tasks on the plate – not too many, not too few – the Absent-Minded Professor thrives. When avoiding Task 1, he or she can work on Task 2 or 3 for a while, and won't have to create diversions that suck the life out of studying.
Recommendations for notes: The Absent-Minded Professor's notes will often be a mess; re-writing and re-organizing after the fact can give this type an extra edge, especially when done creatively.
The Project Person
The Project Person wants to be getting up and doing, not sitting down and thinking. This learning type has some traits in common with the Absent-Minded Professor and some traits in common with the Communicator. Usually a kinesthetic learner on the VARK profile, the Project Person often wants a concrete example of everything, and won't follow pure abstraction.
The Project Person might or might not have ADHD traits, but it's always clear that she or he has energy and wants to use it. A Project Person's high energy might cause this student to dominate a group, or distract the class during a lecture if his or her intellect is frustrated.
Tips on study habits: The model used in mechanics and medicine, "See one, do one, teach one", is ideal for the Project Person, who solidifies understanding by using it right away. Individuals with hyperactive traits can improve their information retention in a lecture or other seated environment by exercising directly before they sit down to learn. Asking questions during a lecture is another good way for this student to keep engaged.
Recommendations for notes: When looking over notes, a Project Person should try to spot anything that seems irrelevant or doesn't make sense, and try to re-evaluate it by imagining a real-world example.
Individual learners might fit more than one of the above learning types, or find that a given type is similar but needs more specificity. The source materials – Fleming's VARK profile, the MBTI, and neurodiversity theory – provide a wide range of more detailed information about how people learn, and can provide students with further suggestions for ideal learning environments.
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