WHO and WHAT you are: How it affects your study habits Learning Styles Kinesthetic

Auditory

Visual

Moving towards

Moving Away

You need to feel, touch and be physically engaged with your subject matter – role playing will help as well as creating mind maps for the ‘experience of doing it’ more than the visual cues that will reinforce what you learn. Unless speed reading, speak the words you are reading – emphasise the important ones. If speed reading, only speak the text you highlight. Listening to audios or videos will help you. Talk about your subjects with your MasterMind Group Members. Ask the teacher a lot of questions – LISTEN to his/her answer. Sit in the FRONT of the class not to be distracted by students talking during class. MindMap as much as you can, use highlighters and as much colour and illustrations, charts and diagrams as you can. If running out of time, SKIM you textbook slowly and LOOK at each page carefully. When you’re motivated by future rewards, you need to focus on the end game – the end of the semester, graduation, etc. Whenever you’re feeling down or discouraged, you need tools like my Monthly Motivational Messages to keep you going. You can create your own by using photos placed on a notice board – called a vision board. If you’re a moving away from person, it means you’ll do more to avoid pain than gain pleasure. That unfortunately means you need to motivate yourself with the thoughts of NOT wanting to fail instead of trying to get an A (focus on NOT getting a B!)

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MBTI profile Extrovert Introvert

Intuitive

Sensory

Feeling

Thinking

Perceiving = Procrastinator

Judging

Disciplined

Undisciplined

Discussing issues in class and in you MasterMind Group will help you remember a lot more. Studying on your own most of the time is probably what will work for you best, but you want to try to get into MasterMind Groups every once in a while. Start with the big picture concepts and then get into the details – that will make it easier for you to recall information during your exams and tests. Because you focus on details by default, you need to make sure you put them into a big picture context – MindMapping will help you do this. If you are strong on this dimension, you need to FEEL your subject matter viscerally, in your body. Role playing helps even if you do it as “make believe” on your own. Without feeling emotions, your ability to remember will be diminished. Since you are rational rather than emotionally based, you’re predisposed to quickly make logical links between ideas. The more links you can create, the easier it will be for you to remember a lot of details. Mnemonics can help you remember lists and other details and stats. If you indulge in procrastination, as I mention in my Speed Learning Video Program, you need to PLAN for last minute cramming before exams and tests. By knowing this is what you will do, you just need to prepare and plan for it so you have everything you need. To think otherwise is a recipe for tremendous stress, anxiety and potential disaster. Because you’re deadline oriented, chances are you over-study. Since you’re well organised and won’t leave things to the last minute, you should vary your approach and test different ways you study to identify which one works best. Procrastinators have the advantage of having to learn a LOT in a very SMALL time frame, which makes them (necessarily) more efficient. For the most part, this is a great advantage for a student – this only works against you when you need to be creative and innovative or when dealing with complex concepts and issues. Try to mix up your schedule and patterns every once in a while to keep it fresh and new – find new places to study and see if that helps spur your creative genius! You need to add structure in your study habits. Start to do things in patterns, in the same place, same time on a more regular, predictable basis. Gauge which variations work best for you.

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Organised

Disorganised

Mess things up on purpose – just to see if you can “draw outside the lines”. By doing this, your creative right brain hemisphere will become engaged and stimulated – helping you understand and recall a lot more, more easily. You want to try becoming a little more organised with your study habits – try with things like your grooming, how you keep your room, study desk and files/notes. Force yourself to make small improvements and you’ll soon see that a cluttered mind has more difficulty recalling information on exams and tests – cleaning up your desk and notes will actually help your brain FIND the information it’s looking for – I know, it’s weird, but it works!

If you’re struggling with English (or your primary language or other non-science courses) – just try to make them look and feel Math and science inclined like math/science. Give them structure and a format in your notes and MindMaps. The more links you create, the more logical it becomes and that is why you are good with science subjects… When you get bogged down with math and science problems – make them personal and intuitive. Create real-life scenarios that you can relate to. Tell yourself a story about a formula or Social science inclined equation in a narrative style. You’ll quickly start to associate math and science with your right brain strengths which will help you get past the mental barrier – it takes time and practice, so be patient and diligent!

Stressed

Relaxed

Arousal is a good thing – it helps you perform at your best. However at extremes it’s overwhelming and destructive. The best way to deal with stress overall is to be prepared. If you knew ALL the answers to ALL the questions on an exam, you’d have no stress. Lack of arousal and stress is not any better than too much stress and anxiety. You need to create a sense of anticipation if you’re going to do your best in exams and tests. Complacency is not a peak performance strategy. If you must, under-study by a little so that you get a little nervous – the added adrenaline should help you perform better. Don’t play with fire – do it just enough so you FEEL more concerned and aware.

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Matcher

Mismatcher

Proactive Reactive

Cynical/sceptical

Trusting

Impulsive

Cautious

Because you SEE the similarities and correlations quite easily, you need to LOOK for the discrepancies, exceptions and omissions. It’s easier said than done, but with practice, you’ll quickly realise that there is a lot you’ve taken for granted and maybe shouldn’t have. Ask “What if this wasn’t true?” or “What is the alternative or reverse of this?” If you are a chronic mismatcher, you contradict and find fault in everything – that is a predisposition that you already know annoys people around you. Trying to find the similarities and other links and accepting them at face value is hard for you. You need to stop being so cynical and sceptical and catch yourself when you do it just to be argumentative. Often, when you indulge in this, you lose valuable time counter-arguing something that is fact and won’t help you get a better grade. If you are in a MasterMind Group and all you do is mismatch – you won’t be a member for long. See judging above See procrastinator above As with the mismatcher discussion above, some level of validation is healthy – it’s when you obsess about it beyond a reasonable level. As a student, time is precious. Once you’ve done minimal validation/research – stop and move on. There’s an expression in business “perfection is the poison of profitability.” As long as you don’t err on the side of pure gullibility, trusting your instinct is a good thing. Practical Intuition is a skill you can learn and develop. Google it and you’ll be amazed at its power! Be careful not to jump to conclusions about a problem/solution/ answer. Without getting into analysis paralysis, don’t take things for granted. I’ve seen so many students assume that the answer they came up with when studying was correct when it wasn’t – corroborate and check with your Study MasterMind Group. Being careful is wise, being too cautious can hurt your grades. You need to trust study techniques and strategies that have been proven to work – for example MindMapping and speed reading. If you’re too cautious, you will transfer that into self-doubt and lower self-esteem.

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Internet/computer savvy

Technologically challenged

ADD/ADHD

Spending time on Facebook and Tweeting messages on Twitter don’t make you computer savvy – make sure you MAKE TIME to learn more about the Internet and technology – beyond social networking and gaming. The Internet will be your primary work tool. Knowledge is power. Simple solution. Buy an iPhone, a Mac and maybe even an iPad. If you can’t handle that – Google Amish and pack your bags! You’re not going to like this – These labels are B.S. If you’ve been diagnosed as ADD or ADHD, sorry – all that tells me is that too many people have let you get away with it. I am biased and very opinionated about this. If you mastered the study and accelerated learning strategies I teach, you wouldn’t have ADD or ADHD. Just try speed reading – if you can’t do it, it’s not because you have ADD – it’s because you’re too damn lazy. Simple as that. I’m not buying your story. I’ve seen too many lazy students use the label as an ‘excuse’ not to do the work that’s required. The proof for me is simple: an ADD or ADHD person, when they do what they enjoy have no attention deficit issues – DUH!

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How To MindMap To Get Better Grades Video Program Who would have thought that learning to MindMap and draw can help you get better grades? But it’s true. By creating memorable images, your brain’s visual cortex can easily recall your class notes when they are drawn in a MindMap so you can remember more important facts, details and dates when it counts - on your next test or exam. This 2-hour video program uses time-lapse photography to show you how professional artist and MindMapper Paul Telling does it, step-bystep so it’s as easy to learn as paint-by-numbers. www.get-better-grades.com/blog/mindmapping-course

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