Some of the most well-liked study tips for college don’t work for everyone. That’s right, your roommate’s annoying habit of loudly singing class notes the night before a test is not a proven tactic for all students!

That’s because everyone learns differently, with some of the most common learning styles being visual, auditory and kinesthetic. If you know which learning style best fits your own, you should pay attention to the study tips for students who learn the same way as you.

Study Tips for Visual Learners

One of the best study tips for visual learners in college is to use flashcards. This should be simple since you have likely been using them since elementary school. You can use these to learn foreign languages, new vocabulary words and even formulas for math or science.

Another study tip is to try to sit near the front of the classroom so you can clearly see anything written on the board or projection screen. Taking notes in class should also help since you can look at them later as you study for your college classes.

Some students with a visual learning style can learn best by looking at images, not just words. If you remember ideas that are presented in graphs or pictures, seek these out in both your textbooks and in the classroom. If there are no images available, you should look up the concepts online to try to find photos that may reinforce the ideas.

Help for Auditory Learners

If you learn by listening, taking notes on paper might not help much. Instead, consider recording lectures in class, and then you can listen to them when you get home. If you do not feel like using a recording device, you can always write down the notes and then simply read them out loud while you study.

Mnemonics tend to be most helpful to students with an auditory learning style. One of the most well-known mnemonics is ROY G BIV, which helps students remember the colors of the rainbow in the right order. Each letter of the phrase stands for a color that starts with the same letter. You can make up everything from short words to entire sentences to help you remember concepts as you study, helping you get good grades in college.

One of the best study tips for this learning style is to create a study group. This allows you to listen to other students discuss the concepts, and it also requires you to repeat them out loud.

Kinesthetic Learning Style Study Hints

This learning style is often referred to as hands-on because you learn best by doing, not watching or listening. For this reason, study tips for college students who are kinesthetic learners tend to involve touch and movement.

Courses that involve labs or hands-on projects likely appeal to you, but not every class is set up this way. If you are in a lecture-style class, you can employ some of the study tips that work for other learning styles. For example, forming a study group, along with making flashcards, can allow you to feel more involved in the class.

You also learn best by practicing skills soon after you learn them, which can be done through class projects, group presentations and role playing. If your college classes do not involve these tasks, you can study at home by walking around as you read your notes to yourself. Even color coding your notes by highlighting in different hues can help you get more involved in your schoolwork, and therefore more interested.

You can always try each of these study tips out, no matter which learning style you prefer, until you find a few that work best for you. What other study tips have served you well in college?

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