Have you ever wondered why the girl or the boy in your class who is incredibly social, life of a party, easily spotted at any and every social event, always ends up scoring higher than you do. Every Single Time! Or that friend of yours who is asks the most ridiculous questions, amazes you with high passes at the end of every semester? Ever wondered what they eat or do the night before exam that would made them score so high? I use to think that A LOT! Until I realized, we all are different individuals and we all have different learning styles. Read more and find out what is your learning style and how to maximize it for your benefit so that you can score well in your med-school.
Learning style theory
Learning style theory became popular in 70s. Since then it has picked pace. Long gone are the days when students used to learn only by sitting on their benches and listening to their teachers. This is practically the most lethal form of teaching today. In Medical School, you will meet all kinds of people! Those people will have all kinds of different learning styles and adaptabilities. No one is similar to another and we all have different ways of retaining and understanding concepts which is absolutely ok. There are many different ways and styles of learning. Among these, some prefer reading, some prefer listening, some learn by asking questions, some learn by doing things on their own and others learn just by seeing. I am one of those individuals who learns with experimenting. Read and find out which one is your learning style.
1. Visual Learners – Also known as Spatial Learners
If you are one of those people who learns by seeing images, diagrams, pictures, videos, or anything that has shapes and colors to it, you are a visual learner. Your brain is thinking in pictures rather than in words. For an individual like you, keeping an atlas when studying anatomy or surgery and drawing the diagram (in case if you are good at drawing too) or just googling the images on the internet while you read the TCA cycle for example, will help you boast your knowledge retention. You can also keep a small white board and draw concept maps during your study sessions. Another tool that can come in handy would be observing. Visual learners are observant. You can also utilize tools like graphs, charts and tables to maximize your understanding.
2. Auditory Learners – also known as Aural learners
Back in high school when we were introduced to the cell cycle, I remember my teacher played a cell cycle song for us and did a hand gesture for us to remember the whole thing. Years later, I still remember the song and I still remember the concept clear and strong. If you still need a clearer picture of what it’s like to be an auditory learner, do you remember the ‘Bone dance’ song from Hannah Montana? Yeah, that’s it! So, If you are one of those, you learn by listening! it could be songs, video clips, movements and conversations. auditory learners also tend to do well even during those boring lectures. They tend to remember names clearer than faces. So for an auditory learner, ideally, creating songs out of concepts, introducing rhythms, creating pneumonic, talking to friends, contributing in discussions, group studies, classroom lectures are some of the tools that can help you conquer the avalanche of information. Pro Tip: Those YouTube videos are your best friends!
3. Verbal Learners – also known as Linguistic learners:
Verbal learners definitely have an edge in med-school because they love both written and spoken words. When the rest of us face difficulty in understanding and remembering those medical jargons, it comes easily to them and flows with their personalities. These people also tend to flourish in reading big books and writing papers. These are one of those who would have pretty looking, neat and organized notes in the class. So, for them the ideal learning habit would be reading a concept from the book and then writing it down in their own words. You can also break down a concept to small, multiple questions and then write their answers in your own words. I still remember there were some students in my class who always did so well in the tutorials. Tutorials were an hour long sessions offered to us where we use to discuss case scenarios or difficult concepts with each other. A list of questions were usually provided prior to the tutorial and those who were linguistic learners always had the entire tutorial solved before hand.
4. Physical Learners – also known as Kinesthetic Learners
I would say I am one of these. physical learners are tactile learners means they are very hands-on. They don’t get it until they do it. They would rather draw, build, put something together and learn from it. Mostly trial and error is what they live for. They aren’t afraid to fail because they know each time they get it wrong, they will find a new way of doing it and an old way of how to not do it. These people have a very hard time staying still, attending lectures and face difficulty staying attentive for a long period of time but that’s just part of their personality. Movement makes them retain information well. These are some of those people in your class who will be the best presenters out there. Their med-school presentations will always be on point and top-notch. They learn from teaching others too. These are also the ones who will learn anatomy from holding bones in their hands and tracing them. Using flashcards can also be a great technique to remember concepts for them. They are usually great at multitasking also so please don’t envy them when you find them doing too many things at one time.
These are just a few tips I have written for you to understand your own learning style and to kickstart your med-school journey. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to get in touch!