This assessment is designed to help you become more aware of your preferred learning style(s) and will also provide you with learning strategy tips to help you study in a productive manner.
Let's Begin!
If more than one answer per question describes your learning habits, choose the one that describes your most frequent tendencies. There are no right or wrong answers, so go with your first response.
Here are the results of your responses. Keep in mind that most people have multiple styles of learning. Also keep in mind that people can, through practice, master learning styles that are not initially comfortable for them.
(placeholder)of your responses indicate your preference of a visual learning style. Here are some strategies you might use to get the most from your courses:
Concentrate on illustrations, maps, charts, and diagrams in textbooks.
Use different colored highlighters to make a visual association with material in textbooks (for instance, blue might signal important terms, while green might signal important dates or people).
Pay close attention to descriptive words in texts to help you recall information (for instance, you might remember details about the story “Young Goodman Brown” by picturing the character Faith’s pink ribbons).
Make illustrated flash cards for vocabulary words (for instance, you might remember the Spanish word for sun is sol by drawing ☼ on one side of the flash card).
Closely watch your instructor in class as recalling this visual image will help you remember the subject of the lecture.
Watch films, especially documentaries, as supplements to your course reading.
(placeholder)of your responses indicate your preference of a reading and writing based learning style. Here are some strategies you might use to get the most from your courses:
Concentrate more on written texts and captions than on illustrations.
Outline chapters prior to reading them, focusing on subheadings and any terms in boldface or italics to identify the author’s major ideas.
Write out lecture notes in complete sentences. This will help familiarize you with important concepts and facts, as well as fixing them in your memory.
Practice your recall by listing key terms and details. You might also create flash cards containing key terms.
When preparing for exams, try writing a summary of what material you feel confident about and what material you don’t. Then try writing out exactly what confuses you and why. This will help identify the material you need to focus on the most, and it may even lead you to a remedy for your confusion.
(placeholder)of your responses indicate your preference of a kinesthetic (hands-on, active) learning style. Here are some strategies you might use to get the most from your courses:
Volunteer for classroom activities such as role playing or scientific experiments.
Visit museums or take field trips related to course material.
Take frequent study breaks to move around or exercise.
Take part in study groups where you can demonstrate what you have learned from the class. Teaching others can be the best way to learn.
Touch plays a key role in your learning, so try to create a tactile association with course material. You might use different colored post-it notes to mark important parts of your textbook or create flashcards (you will recall the information because you have the memory of creating the cards, and you will have the physical cards to hold and flip through, further reinforcing that memory).
Whenever possible, try to apply what you have learned in class to real-life situations. You might learn about poetry by writing your own sonnet, or you might apply statistical formulas to predict your grocery and gas expenditures for the next month.
While listening to lectures, imagine yourself moving about in some way related to the material mentioned. For instance, you night visualize yourself performing a chemistry experiment or walking through the places mentioned in history class.
(placeholder)of your responses indicate your preference of an auditory learning style. Here are some strategies you might use to get the most from your courses:
Tape lectures with the instructor’s permission to play back while studying.
Read your lecture notes out loud to yourself and tape yourself reading them for playback while driving or exercising.
Play music in the background while you study (thinking about this music may help jog your memory when taking an exam).
If learning a foreign language, listen to music sung in that language or investigate interactive programs such as www.livemocha.com which feature auditory components.
Join or form a study group, so that you can discuss with others what you have learned.
