Auditory Learners-2

If you are an auditory learner, it means you learn and process information through sound. You are often the person who remembers the most from conversations and prefers audio books/lectures more than assigned readings. This can, however, make studying slightly more tricky. Fortunately for you, the age of remote learning arguably impacts your learning style least, and the plethora of podcasts and other audio readily available is right in your learning wheelhouse. But first, let's make sure you are in a space that can maximize your learning environment: 

 

Learning Suggestions for Auditory Learners

  • Use word association to remember facts: Flashcards can be helpful for this. Put your key word on one side, and the associated facts on the other. When you go through them, be sure to read them out loud. 
  • Record lectures and listen to them: As professors to post their lectures and listen to them again if you need to review. 
  • Watch videos on the topic you're learning
  • Repeat facts out loud with eyes closed: This gets rid of all visual distractions so you can really just focus on the sound and what you are hearing.
  • Participate in group discussions: Talking about an idea or topic will help you learn it, both through speaking and listening to others' explanations.
  • Make up songs to help you remember information: Mary Had a Little Lamb? Your favorite song? Whatever it is, pick a tune you known and put your own words to it. Remember the song you used to learn your math facts or the states? Those were created for you: the auditory learner. Just because you're no longer in elementary school doesn't mean those same learning tactics don't work. You can then hum the song as you're taking the test and the lyrics you created will be there for you.
  • Read your notes out loud after writing them: Hearing them be read will help you retain what you wrote. You can even record yourself reading them and listen to it so that you have more flexibility in where you can study. 

Flashcards are a good way to test your understanding and recall. How you organize them will be based on if the 'web' or 'outline' note taking approach works best for you. Since you are an auditory learner, flashcards are a great way to give yourself a starting point, and then allow you to talk through the concepts on the other side. Making flashcards for vocab words are straight forward, but what about when you need to study something more complex than that? Watch the brief video below on making flashcards.

 

As with all learning types:

  • Take your notes in color/black & white and web vs outline form based on the bedroom exercise.
  • Review your notes as soon as you can after class is over. This will help firm up the ideas and concepts in your mind. Also, have you ever come back to notes later, looked them over, and thought, "What does this even mean?". You've forgotten all your abbreviations, comments, etc. Reading notes over after you've written them (try within an hour) will help that as well. 
  • Study for only about 25 minutes and take a 5 minute break before going back. This will help your brain work most efficiently. Research also shows that taking a nap after studying or studying right before bed helps solidify the information studied and help move it from short term to long term memory.