One of the many advantages of an aptitude assessment is to identify your child’s learning style and find practical study strategies. When your student understands how they learn best, they are able to create efficient study habits. Their self-confidence increases and stress and frustration decrease. As a result, grades and overall productivity improve. True Compass utilizes the Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) and the HAB measures five learning channels: Verbal Memory, Tonal Memory, Design Memory, Rhythm Memory and Number Memory. After completing the HAB, clients have access to multiple reports: Standard Report to interpret scores; Career Report to identify best-fit careers; and Learning Strategies Report. The Learning Strategies Report identifies an individual’s primary learning channels based on their aptitude scores. The thorough report provides suggestions for how to maximize the strong learning channels, as well as compensation strategies for the limited areas of learning. Click here to view a sample Sample-Learning Strategies Report. Below is an introduction to the learning channels identified through the HAB:
VERBAL MEMORY:
-This is the individual who prefers to learn by reading and can easily recall what has been read. -Characteristics and suggestions for strong verbal memory:
Prefers to read and write rather than listen
Can easily follow written directions.
Encourage others to communicate with you in writing
Put your thoughts, questions, and requests in writing
Make a conscious effort to get as much information as possible into written form
Learn the art of note-taking so you will have lectures in written format
Read and re-read any notes you take during class lectures
Preview all new chapters: read instructions, look over boldfaced terms, and read the chapter summary
Have some idea of what material is going to be covered before going to class.
TONAL MEMORY:
-This is the auditory learner who uses hearing to process information.
-Characteristics and suggestions for auditory learners:
Prefers to follow verbal instructions rather than written ones
Enjoys group work and discussing information with others
Remembers by listening, especially music
Reads with whispering lip movements
Finds it difficult to work quietly for long periods of time
Use sound, rhyme, and music in your learning
DESIGN MEMORY:
-This is the visual learner who processes with their eyes and relies on seeing to learn.
-Characteristics and suggestions for visual learners:
Sees and thinks through pictures and images
Views the world in imaginative ways
Prefers maps to verbal directions when trying to find a place
Incorporate graphic elements in to the information you study
May work comfortably with visual materials such as pictures, plans, maps, designs
Use visual presentation software, graphs, maps, color, pictures, and charts to help you learn
Use mind maps
Replace words with pictures
RHYTHM MEMORY:
-This is the kinesthetic learner who learns best through movement and doing.
-Characteristics and suggestions for the kinesthetic learners:
Needs movement in order to stay focused
Benefits from in-class demonstrations, “hands on” student learning experiences, and fieldwork outside the classroom
Often needs frequent breaks during studying
Learns spelling by “finger spelling” the words
Use physical objects as much as possible
Often takes notes or even draws pictures or doodle while listening
NUMBER MEMORY:
-This is the individual who uses numerical information to solve problems and make decisions and recommendations.
-Characteristics and suggestions for strong Verbal Memory:
Take time to reduce what you learn to lists
Strong rote memorization skills
Use this ability to arrange schedules and time-tables for projects
Can use this ability when you have to remember details quickly
Have some advantage in roles requiring working with numbers
Number Memory has application in the more technical, scientific, and mathematical fields. One example is a travel agent who remembers plane schedules in detail. Another example is a sports broadcaster who can remember statistical information, yards gained, names and numbers of players and historical information. A cashier in a shop who remembers the price of an item without looking it up is using Number Memory.
UNIVERSAL STUDY STRATEGIES
Encourage your student to build better study habits by pairing the universal study strategies listed below with the customized learning strategies found in their HAB Learning Strategies Report.
FOCUSED ATTENTION:
Taking regular breaks helps embed learning. A study found that students who took regular breaks over an hour remembered a fifth more than those who crammed without taking a break. Use brief periods of “focused attention.” Focus intently for 25 minutes. Take a break for a few minutes doing something relaxing. Your brain actually continues to process that information in the background and continues to build that neural pathway.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP:
Sleep is an important part of the learning process. During sleep, your brain organizes ideas and concepts you’re thinking about and learning. It erases the less important parts of memories and simultaneously strengthens areas that you need or want to remember. During sleep your brain rehearses the tougher parts of whatever it is you’re trying to learn, going over and over neural patterns to deepen and strengthen them.
IMPROVED RECALL:
Instead of re-reading material, simply read it once and then look away and try to recall as much of it as you can. Then study it again, look away and recall it again. In the same amount of time, students will recall more info through recalling than re-reading.
SPACED REPTITION:
To move information from working memory to long term memory, adopt the concept of Spaced Repetition, which means spacing out your studying over several short periods of time over several days. By introducing time intervals between study sessions, you can remember more, even if you spend fewer actual hours studying. The total amount of time spent studying will be the same (or less) than one or two marathon study sessions, but you will learn the information more deeply and retain much more for the long term. The important thing is how you use your study time, not how long you study. Long study sessions lead to a lack of concentration and thus a lack of learning and retention.
