Learning style

As a kid, I always preferred learning by heart and then writing down what I have memorised in my notebook. And this approach is something that was feasible during school time because our study material used to be very limited. But as a teenager, this approach can be difficult to execute when you have to cover so much. It was difficult for me to memorise everything because it wasn’t my strongest forte. And so I tried writing whatever I wanted to memorise repeatedly until it was imprinted in my head. But this method wasn’t very efficient for me since most of the time I was doing last-minute preparations. The “learn-by-heart and write” style was an effective style as a kid and worked well even when I was preparing last minute. But it is not possible when you are reading in 9th grade or 10th grade. 

Firstly, I had to learn to break the habit of preparing last minute. I found the most effective learning style for me during this period was to take notes during class and then when I was home I used to lock myself in a room and pretend as if I was giving a lecture. I even got myself a whiteboard and created my own imaginary classroom and it helped me immensely. During this stage, I was also more into visual learning. Youtube was a lifesaver for me during the 10th and 12th boards. 

After I was done with school and started college I realised not every answer I was looking for was available on Youtube, sometimes even Google was of no help and ChatGPT didn’t exist back then. During this period, learning in groups helped a lot. Discussing among friends and connecting the theories with real-life examples helped a lot. And when you develop the habit of discussing topics every single day with your friends, you would make extra efforts to read and learn beforehand.  

I believe there is not just one perfect learning style. A lot of it depends on our strengths and moreover, our learning style should revolve around those strengths. I am someone who enjoys learning when I am connecting theories with the real world. And discussing with people also helps me a lot in terms of understanding concepts that go over my head when I am just skimming through my notes or going through books.