Mindmapping

I came across "The MindMap Book" by Tony Buzan. It was about how to improve your memory and harness the power of both sides of your brains. The left brain deals with logic, structure, numbers, and the right with creativity, spatial awareness, and rhythm. Mindmaps are about putting a central image in the center of a blank piece of paper and mapping out the key concepts there using color, creativity, exaggeration, and pictures. Buzan claims them to be effective for learning, planning, recall, for everything we do. He believes that conventional note taking using a pen and paper causes people to forget things easily due to the monotony of the linear structure, and that mindmaps help utilize both sides of the brain to greater efficiency.

I did use them. I found that for me, they were very effective on content heavy subjects such as biology and geography, but not really necessary for subjects that heavily emphasized conceptual understanding, like Math or Physics. Once for a physical geography course, I mindmapped out all the notes the teacher gave. Since the exam schedule was so packed, I didn’t have time to revise for geography. Only on the day before the exam, I took out my notes and reviewed them twice in the space of one afternoon. Inside the exam hall, I realized I could remember so much content that I wrote nonstop for the whole time, getting hand cramps because my only limitation was not being able to write fast enough. I scored an A in the paper. So I’ll recommend them to anyone who feels crushed by the amount of memorizing they need to do for certain subjects. They can make your life easier.

Sometimes, I also use mindmaps to plan things, like an essay, or a term paper, and they’re been helpful to varying degrees.

It’s up to you whether to decide to use mindmaps or not. Some people do perfectly well without knowing what they are, but for those interested, here’s a useful website. http://www.12manage.com/methods_mind_mapping.html