What is the best way for you to learn a new subject ?

Post Reply New Topic

What is the best way for you to learn anything new? I always struggled with learning the best way i thought was my learning style ( but still had a hard time) was by listening to the professor. So when I went to college I got accepted into the special needs part and I got extra time for tests and a recorder. It helped a little. I mean i have a great memory and know what happened but I cant help but recall what the professor was saying it was just a picture. But in my 2nd year of college I switched majors to Deaf Studies. I did it for a girlfriend at the time. It was a bad breakup she quit and i stayed with ASL classes. but I kept getting high B's. I was really close to an A. I was telling my doctors about my major change and they ok with it and hoped I had better luck with my Deaf Studies degree path. my 2nd year into ASL I excelled. I was able to grasp what was being taught. I didnt really have test anxiety anymore. Once I told my doctors about my success and how I enjoyed it they were astounded about I was able to understand ASL (better than English) so fast. I got my degree in Deaf Studies and I am very much a part of a Deaf community. SO i figured I was more of Physical (kinesthetic): I prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch. SO what do you think is your preferred style of learning?

I can only learn how to do a practical thing by doing it, even watching someone else do it is not enough because I hold things and position myself differently. Same for maths, I only remember which tool (way of working out problem) to use for what problem by doing.

Things like facts ect I learn by attaching them to things, so history bits I learn I remember by attaching them to familiar historical or sometimes fictional characters or big events. Any bit of information with nothing to attach to gets lost, so I learn nothing about a subject until I learn something quite big and memorable about it, after that any new bits on the same subject I can mentally attach to the big bit.

I have yet to learn how to explain things concisely however

II also know that if I keep reciting what I just learned It helps to remember what I just learned. I am into science like Sign Language and astrophysics. But once the christmas season is over I will get back to my studies. So I am looking for Like minded people to discuss such topics because it helps me remember what i was talking about. but most of the time I have to reread what I learned so It doesnt look like I made it up. But if it comes to American Deaf Culture I study that a lot and recite it a lot. So I have a lot of information to bad it up. But I like to watch a show called Adam ruins everything and I watch and read about where he got his information from. So basically I am trying to learn audio and reading. some times it helps. It is just I need someone to talk to to help me remember.

I learn by testing my knowledge, even non-existent one.
I face a question. I let my mind wander, trying to figure out the answer based on what I know, trying to fill the blanks with logic and if that fails I will search for the answers in the internet or my notes.

That's why I love tests - I learn by doing them. And I am not getting anything less than 60% score in fields I know anything about on my first try(40% in fields I never learned before, unless the questions actually require cramming some base facts first), without studying before. And after 3 similar tests taken my score raises to 80-95% because I learn the base facts and logic used in most of questions and I get enough general knowledge in the field to figure out most answers because "I have read about it/seen it somewhere".
Therefore I was always browsing the net for practice tests or doing exercises in our textbooks before actual exams. That was enough for me to pass with straight As, few Bs.

As for the "auditory, visual, kinetic" learning etc. I would say I am visual but it isn't that strong. I do remember where I seen some information - what the page looked like and if the information was bottom or top of it, if it was in a table, chart, on a list or in a block of text, if it was 1 or 2 words, low long the words were etc. But I won't necessarily remember what the information was. I rely more on my understanding (I won't remember definitions but I will be able to explain their main point), connections+repetition (the more times I used an information connected to something else the better I remember it), imagination (I will make up my own examples if there isn't any) and mnemonics, usually related to spacial relationships (for example recently I learned Japanesse "na":な as "t ON('na'='on' in Polish) L with some addon" because my visual memory and connections wasn't working on it, too complex for a letter).

And I absolutely fail in auditory learning. I will remember some things if they are paired with some charts or my own imaginations (I were imagining examples while listening and seen them with my mind eye) but without working really hard to keep my focus and translate what I hear to pictures most of the information will get in one ear and get out the other. It will stay in my short term memory for a few seconds though - I can repeat most recent sentence word by word, using the same tone of voice, on the spot, even if I happen not to be paying attention (I actually use the ability to replay what I heard to understand it if I were not paying attention and it works out pretty well in social situations because I don't have to ask people for repeating what they said - my brain keeps it recorded and I can replay it in my mind ears as clearly as actual sound) - but it will escape my mind as soon as next sentence starts, unless I make sure to focus on the meaning or write the sentence down.