Mind Mapping For Dummies

Step 3: Revising regularly

Over a century ago the psychologist Ebbinghaus demonstrated with his ‘forgetting curve’ that people forget newly learned content within a short time. There’s no precise information on just how high the forgetting percentage actually is, but it’s clear that people quickly forget things and this happens shortly after learning. This is why researchers into learning emphasise the importance of revision. Both Professor Stangl and John Medina, author of the book Brainrules, point out that anything learned should be revised within 24 hours and then at regular intervals. Precisely what ‘regular’ means, they don’t say – presumably not every day, but certainly not once every six months!

Mind Maps save time when revising

Admittedly, you have to spend some time on generating a Mind Map. But then it takes time making any kind of notes, not just Mind Maps.

You’ll save a great deal of time if you use Mind Maps for revising things you need to learn. By recording what is, in your view, the most important content in the best way for you, you can quickly recall such content to mind and revise it efficiently. Not having to work through books and texts again saves you a lot of time. The larger and more comprehensive an examination and a subject, the more time you can save.

Peripatetic learning – a special way of revising

One revision technique that’s especially useful for exam preparation or whenever you need to revise a lot of material is peripatetic learning.

This combines ...