A recent study in the United States revealed that 2007 graduates earned 77% more per hour than those with only a high school diploma. Click on this hyperlink if you want to know the value of a degree.
That’s why a small investment in a study book is a great investment. There, I’ve said it. If you haven’t bought my study book what are you waiting for? It’s comes with an 8-week money-back guarantee, tons of bonuses and has been purchased by thousands of students from all over the world. It’s even been translated into 4 languages, English, French, Romanian and Chinese.
What more proof do you need? Maybe that’s the problem – you need absolute certainty to make a decision.
That’s not going to happen. There is no such thing as “perfect knowledge”. In fact that is one of the many concepts and ideas that I share with you once you buy my study book. Get it now and start improving your study habits.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Monday 1 November 2010
3 Note Taking Styles: 5 Major Flaws
There you are, preparing for your exam… looking back over your notes trying to understand what you’ve written. Trying to remember the words the lecturer said AND put into context the scribbles in your notebook. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!
It doesn’t have to be this way. There IS a better way to take notes that will help you understand, remember and retain more knowledge, especially at a critical time such as your next exam!
2. The list note taking style – this involves taking down the various ideas as they occur usually in a bulleted list, like the one I just created for the traditional note taking styles.
3. Outline note taking style-
1. Lack of visual cues. As you can tell from the traditional styles above, they all use linear patterns, symbols and text, but use no visual cues, patterns, images or visualization tools. This is a critical flaw because the mind thinks in visual images and pictures and needs these elements to enable selective recall when it counts – on your next exam.
2. Boring. Traditional note taking styles are monotone, meaning your brain gets bored and switches off! Traditional notes all tend to look the same, hiding important key words and subject headings making it incredibly hard for your brain to remember what matters and what doesn’t. This is where confusion and “muddled” memory comes from. The brain knows it’s “in there” somewhere, but like a pile of papers scattered on the floor, it doesn’t know where it is or where it actually belongs.
3. Time consuming. Creating traditional notes is a monumental waste of time – when compared to their more efficient and effective alternative. Because they are boring and lack visual cues, when taking notes “the old fashioned way”, you tend to just keep writing unnecessarily. By writing more, it means your brain has to sift through even more irrelevant stuff to get to the important things that will be on your exam. To increase recall you need to keep reading and re reading your notes over and over and over and over again hoping something will sink in. The problem is that it makes it harder and harder and harder for the important stuff to stand out!
4. Lack of creative stimulation. Traditional note taking fails to stimulate the brain creatively, relying primarily on the logical left brain hemisphere for recall. That’s why it’s so hard. Failing to allow associations and connections to be made between key words and points, the creative right brain remains switched off.
5. False sense of completion. The traditional note taking formats gives you a false sense of completion because of their linear nature. They appear complete even though the complete lack the all-important conceptual connections and inter-relationships between the points.
How do you take notes and do you struggle with any of these issues?
Because mind mapping mimics the brain’s thinking format, it uses radial thinking and visual patterning using colours, lines, pictures and (inter) relationships. By giving your brain many visual symbols to connect with, remembering them when it counts – on your next test or exam will be easy.
Mind maps are colourful and creative by nature with key points, ideas and concepts literally jumping off the page enabling your brain to quickly and effectively search and FIND the information you need, within the proper context.
Creating relationships and linkages are natural to the brain’s memory storing function. One of the best things about mind maps is that they’re less time consuming to create than traditional notes and take a lot less room. Usually, you can fit several pages or even whole chapters on one page mind map. That gives you QUICK ACCESS and also gives you the overall “picture” that traditional note taking lacks.
Mind mapping is really the polar opposite of traditional note taking. Instead of working against the brain mindmapping works with the brain, matching it to increase your memory, retention and comprehension to give you confidence when writing tests and exams.
Keep this in mind: Many highly successful business people admit to using mind mapping as a competitive tool in their businesses. If it works for them, there must be something to it!
CLICK HERE -> To get your hands on the “How To MindMap To Get Better Grades Video Program”.
Psst! Take a look at this blog post and COMPARE it to the mind mapping program description page – which one do you prefer? That’s the whole point!!!
It doesn’t have to be this way. There IS a better way to take notes that will help you understand, remember and retain more knowledge, especially at a critical time such as your next exam!
Did you know there are 3 traditional ways we take notes?
1. The sentence narrative note taking style – This is where you simply write out word-for-word what you hear. Writing line-by-line as fast as you can. You’re basically a stenographer – focused on capturing the words on paper.2. The list note taking style – this involves taking down the various ideas as they occur usually in a bulleted list, like the one I just created for the traditional note taking styles.
3. Outline note taking style-
Taking notes in a hierarchical sequence using major and
sub categories.
In a waterfall- like structure as shown here
Did you know that these 3 traditional note taking styles have 5 major flaws?
1. Lack of visual cues. As you can tell from the traditional styles above, they all use linear patterns, symbols and text, but use no visual cues, patterns, images or visualization tools. This is a critical flaw because the mind thinks in visual images and pictures and needs these elements to enable selective recall when it counts – on your next exam.
2. Boring. Traditional note taking styles are monotone, meaning your brain gets bored and switches off! Traditional notes all tend to look the same, hiding important key words and subject headings making it incredibly hard for your brain to remember what matters and what doesn’t. This is where confusion and “muddled” memory comes from. The brain knows it’s “in there” somewhere, but like a pile of papers scattered on the floor, it doesn’t know where it is or where it actually belongs.
3. Time consuming. Creating traditional notes is a monumental waste of time – when compared to their more efficient and effective alternative. Because they are boring and lack visual cues, when taking notes “the old fashioned way”, you tend to just keep writing unnecessarily. By writing more, it means your brain has to sift through even more irrelevant stuff to get to the important things that will be on your exam. To increase recall you need to keep reading and re reading your notes over and over and over and over again hoping something will sink in. The problem is that it makes it harder and harder and harder for the important stuff to stand out!
4. Lack of creative stimulation. Traditional note taking fails to stimulate the brain creatively, relying primarily on the logical left brain hemisphere for recall. That’s why it’s so hard. Failing to allow associations and connections to be made between key words and points, the creative right brain remains switched off.
5. False sense of completion. The traditional note taking formats gives you a false sense of completion because of their linear nature. They appear complete even though the complete lack the all-important conceptual connections and inter-relationships between the points.
How do you take notes and do you struggle with any of these issues?
Well by traditional NOTE taking you might as well be NOT taking.
There is an alternative to overcome these problems and limitations – it’s called mind mapping.Because mind mapping mimics the brain’s thinking format, it uses radial thinking and visual patterning using colours, lines, pictures and (inter) relationships. By giving your brain many visual symbols to connect with, remembering them when it counts – on your next test or exam will be easy.
Mind maps are colourful and creative by nature with key points, ideas and concepts literally jumping off the page enabling your brain to quickly and effectively search and FIND the information you need, within the proper context.
Creating relationships and linkages are natural to the brain’s memory storing function. One of the best things about mind maps is that they’re less time consuming to create than traditional notes and take a lot less room. Usually, you can fit several pages or even whole chapters on one page mind map. That gives you QUICK ACCESS and also gives you the overall “picture” that traditional note taking lacks.
Mind mapping is really the polar opposite of traditional note taking. Instead of working against the brain mindmapping works with the brain, matching it to increase your memory, retention and comprehension to give you confidence when writing tests and exams.
Keep this in mind: Many highly successful business people admit to using mind mapping as a competitive tool in their businesses. If it works for them, there must be something to it!
CLICK HERE -> To get your hands on the “How To MindMap To Get Better Grades Video Program”.
Psst! Take a look at this blog post and COMPARE it to the mind mapping program description page – which one do you prefer? That’s the whole point!!!
Use Colours To Improve Memory Retention, Comprehension And Understanding
When we first learn something, information is processed by the brain to form a neural trace which first enters your sensory memory and then, if you’re paying attention, enters your Short Term Memory (STM). If you keep working to process the information and adapt it correctly, it then moves to your Long Term Memory (LTM).
The information which is processed into your LTM is more or less permanent and with occasional reviewing, you will not forget it.
The trick is to adapt the information that you really need into LTM as quickly as possible.
The ability to retain needed information in working memory is important to learning and exam taking performance. Drawings help to improve memory retention, comprehension and understanding.
From Doodling To MindMapping
Today’s blog post contribution is from Paul Telling, a professional artist and MindMapping expert. I asked him to share his insights and ideas about MindMapping to help you get better grades in school. This is the first in a series we’ll be publishing on this blog it’s in support of a new program we just launched called How To MindMap To Get Better Grades. You can click on the hyperlink to access the program information page.
Hi, Paul Telling here – I thought I would share with you my story of how I caught onto MindMapping along my educational journey.
I have always been interested in school and learning. Although at school it can be hard when you think you have all the answers and the teachers are slowing you down. Or the reverse might be true – you struggle to learn as you just don’t get what the teacher’s on about.
Well I had both happen during my high school years. I was interested in art, computing studies and maths while I struggled in English and physics. I managed to get into university doing a degree in Industrial Design.
Studying at university was where I learned to doodle in my sketchbook – all day long. Of course during design classes but also in classes that I was meant to be taking notes. If I found the lectures boring, I would draw a caricature of the lecturer and this got a lot of laughs from my classmates.
Some of my classmates just thought I was weird because I tended to spend more time drawing things than taking linear notes verbatim. My pages of notes were eighty percent pictures and less than twenty percent text.
Little did I know that this was MindMapping!
We all have a tendency to doodle while on the phone, during lectures especially in maths or science class! Doodling is the sub conscious working in its own visual language to learn the content you’re grappling with to help you remember stuff more easily. Doodles are visual elements trying to get linked up in your brain.
The amazing thins is that I can still remember many of ,my lecture notes from when I was a design student. I can still picture most of them in my mind’s eye even though that was more than 6 years ago.
Back then I didn’t know what I was doing. Over time, I have learned the different skills required to MindMap more effectively. I value this skill as something that helps me learn quickly the first time, every time.
Luckily, I now have the chance to teach you this wonderful skill of MindMapping through the video course I created with Dr Marc Dussault.
When you take the How To MindMap To Get Better Grades Video Program, you will turn, in two hours, learn to turn your doodles into cool, colourful MindMaps that will help you remember and recall more than ever before. Your classmates will think you’re a genius.
I hope you get your hands on the course sooner rather than later so you can start to improve your grades as of the very next test, quiz or exam that’s coming up.
I look forward to sharing more insights with you in future blog posts.
Visually yours,
Get Better Grades Success Story
Today’s post is a testimonial from one of my clients who bought my study book, his name is Abel.
Hi, Dr Dussault.
All I can say is wow. I’m studying ACCA (online) but my main problem was lack of motivation to study. Like you explain in your study book, what was holding me back was my comfort zone of past success with my studies. What bother me most was the fact that my constant thought was to study but in reality I wasn’t studying! The more I thought about it, the more I ended up sleeping without even reading for a minute! In a nutshell, your study program made me realize that I will never change my life until I change something I’m doing (or not doing) daily.
Now slowly but surely I’m following through. With my study to do list, I know if I follow it I’ll get better grades otherwise… I don’t even want to think about it anymore!
I hear myself now saying… “Abel bear in mind that you never plan to fail your exam but merely fail to plan to pass!”
That’s my best shot.
Regards,
Abel
Regards,
Abel
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