This article is relevant to anybody who wants to further their career in the insurance and financial services industries.
When needing directions, do you prefer to be told the directions or have them written down?
Is it easier for you to learn a new recipe by reading it in a cookbook or cooking with someone while they teach you?
Teachers and professors have long known that every student learns differently. A person’s individual way of learning is called his or her learning style. There are seven different learning styles, and everyone can have tendencies or proclivities towards more than one style of learning. By understanding your own learning style, you will increase the quality and ease of your studying.
Let’s first look at each of the 7 Learning Styles in order to gain a better understanding of each:
Visual (spatial)
Visual learners make up the vast majority of the population (about 65%). Visual learners prefer to study using written notes, diagrams or pictures. Image is everything to a visual learner.
Aural (auditory-musical)
The next largest group of learners are those who relate to the spoken word or sound. Auditory learners will listen to a lecture, then write down their thoughts afterward. Auditory learners will benefit from reading study notes aloud rather than simply looking at them.
Verbal (linguistic)
Verbal learners are another large portion of the overall population. Verbal learners love words, their meaning and their sounds. Verbal learners are good writers and speakers, and have poetic capabilities.
Kinesthetic (physical)
Kinesthetic learners are a very small part of the population. The kinesthetic learner prefers to be physically involved in learning, using your body, your hands and your sense of touch. Being able to manipulate information is extremely useful (imagine children using counting blocks to learn a math lesson).
Logical (mathematical)
Logical learners prefer using logic, reasoning and process or systematic thinking. Pattern recognition comes easily to you, and you work to make connections between and amongst information.
Social (interpersonal)
Social learners prefer to work in groups or pairs. Information is more easily absorbed and retained for you when you have learned it in a cooperative learning environment. Most people are either social or solitary learners, or there can be some things that you learn better with others, and other things you learn better on your own.
Solitary (intrapersonal)
Solitary learners prefer to work alone. Solitary learners also tend to be good at self-motivation and managing learning tasks.
Once you know and understand your own learning style, it is easier to focus your studying in ways that will be most effective for you. Perhaps your idea of studying has always been to sit at a desk or table, with your book and notes in front of you as you read and re-read the information. For some visual, solitary learners, this may be a perfectly effective way to study and learn. For an aural or social learner, this would be a waste of time. Very little if any of the information will be retained, and you will be frustrated by the amount of time that you put into studying with nothing to show for it.
Many times if a person believes himself to be a very poor student, it is more likely that he has simply never been taught what is the best way for him to learn. Understanding your learning style will make studying so much easier, and even pleasurable.
Not only that, but by using different methods of study, you will also be activating different parts of your brain, increasing your ability to retain and recall the information. Doing the same thing every time you study lulls your brain into a sense of monotony and sort of trance. Even visual learners will be able to think of a time when they have had to read over and over again the same page of notes or paragraph in a textbook. By switching learning tactics, you will surprise your brain and improve your studying!
Below are some ideas for studying that rely on different styles of learning. If you’re not sure what kind of learner you are, try all of the different tips to see which seem to work best. Make note of the most effective techniques. These are your personal learning styles. If you already have a pretty good sense of what kind of learner you are, try to include other styles of learning tricks in an effort to energize your brain when it seems to zero out.
- Visual learners should make use of graphic organizers, charts and maps. Create your own by referring to your class notes and the text.
- Aural learners benefit from associating certain music with their studies. Choose music that you think somehow reflects the topics (making the connection would be something a logical learner would love to do as well), and then play them softly while you study.
- Verbal learners do well by taking notes and then reading them aloud (reading notes aloud also helps aural learners) either to themselves or to others (solitary or social learning style will affect which would be most helpful).
- Physical learners do great with note cards or flashcards. Being able to physically manipulate information will help you retain and visualise it better.
- Logical learners should make diagrams of how information connects, or drawings of patterns found in the lesson material (also a great tool for visual learners).
- Social learners will do well to try to find a study group or study buddy. Even if the social interaction is part of an online community, social learners prefer to share ideas and bounce thoughts off of others.
- Solitary learners often need to know how the information will affect or impact them as an individual. Try to relate your material to yourself, your own actions and feelings.
There is a lot of information available online about learning styles. There are even free online tests that you can take to help you determine what your learning style is. By learning what your individual learning style is, you will be able to study more effectively, saving you tons of time and frustration in the process.
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