A Visual Learners Complete Guide for Effective Note Taking

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Visual learners often struggle with note-taking.  It’s difficult for us because we have a hard time reducing our visions into words. 

We have to be able to see the information to truly understand it.  Even if it is in our minds.  Pictures and models of concepts are critical to true understanding and interpretation with us.  We require illustrations, demonstrations, and to be able to move it around and see it.

Lectures are a blessing and a curse for the visual learner.  You can get pictures from the slides. Still, you have to put all of your learnings into words.  You leave the lecture hall with pages upon pages of notes that you now have to find a way to take in and understand.

If you’re running out of study activities to cycle through, pick up this free study guide and activity tracker.  This has more than 20 different study activities that you can track across each concept required to study. Download yours here.

Today we are going to discuss tips for note-taking suited explicitly for visual learners.  These will show you exactly how to improve your note-taking skills so you can excel in your classes.

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What is a Visual Learner?

Visual learners learn best by being able to see the concepts under study.  These can be either 2-dimensional pictures or 3-dimensional models.  Visual learners often must visualize the idea or process before they can really grasp what it is they are trying to learn.

People often have a mixture of several learning styles.  You might find that you are excellent at learning just by hearing, or you need to also touch and interact with a model.  That’s okay.

Incorporating different practices for each learning style that suits you is a great way to deepen your understanding of a concept and make study time more enjoyable.

The Strengths of a Visual Learner

Visual learners excel at visual elements and presentations.  Anything that you can see or picture in your mind will help you to better understand the material.  If you are a visual learner, you might find you are attracted to:

• Pictures

• Colours

• Charts

• Tables

These elements allow you to easily see and interpret the information at a glance. 

Visual learners function best when they can see what they are learning, regardless of if you are looking at a picture or watching a video.  Being able to see the information you are trying to take in and have it demonstrated will help you clarify your understanding. 

I have to be able to picture information in my mind.  If I can’t “see” it, It does not exist, and I don’t understand it.  I am a hardcore visual learner.  There are many times when someone tries to explain something to me, and the words mean absolutely nothing.

I have to stop, picture it, and sometimes even draw it out, then it exists.

Visual learners want to see it, doodle it or draw it out.  Once they can see it in their minds, they own it.  We can manipulate it, analyze it, and understand it.

How to Take Notes Efficiently as a Visual Learner

If you are a visual learner, there are things you can add to your notes to level up your understanding. Try these practices during your next study session, or incorporate them directly into your lecture notes.

Cornell notes

Cornell notes are a note-taking strategy developed by Cornell University.  It divides your paper into three sections:

1. Notes

2. Cues

3. Summary

In the notes section, you add your regular lecture notes.  This can be done in class and in any style you are comfortable with.

The cues section is reserved for words or short phrases that can help to trigger recall.  In this area, you can add things like vocabulary with or without the definition.  It is also an excellent place for laws, rules, theories, and phrases that have to be remembered.  Only add short, concise sentences in this area.

The summary is exactly as it sounds.  This section should be completed later, during a study session.  Read through the page and summarize, in your own words, the concepts discussed on it.  This exercise helps to ensure you actually understand the idea and that you are not just memorizing the facts as they were presented.

Reading strategies for visual learners

If you struggle with reading your textbook, you can implement strategies to make it easier for you to read and understand each chapter. 

Some visual learners might be slower readers.  That is not to say that their reading comprehension necessarily suffers, but they may just take a little longer to get through the text.

If this is true, you will want to make the most of the time you spend reading.  Incorporating multiple strategies into your reading sittings can help you use this time more efficiently.

Try skimming and scanning the passage before you read it.  This allows you to prime your brain to anticipate what you are about to read.  This can help you to remember it more efficiently the first time you read it.

Look over the portion of text you are about to read.  Stop at any headings or subheadings and read through them.  Think about what they are saying and what they might be referring to.  Think about what you will learn when you read that section and what information you already know it might build upon.

Stop at any diagrams and charts and look them over.  Read the captions at the bottom and see if you can follow through before you read. Here we are priming your mind to get ready for the information before you take it in.

When you do this, as you read, you are remembering the information you primed rather than forcing new information in.  There is already a foundation laid for this new information to be built upon so you can assemble it more easily.

Highlight and stylize notes.

Colour coding your notes is a great way to relay information instantly without having to read.  This is done most efficiently when you use the same colour-coding system for all of your notes.  We have an entire article on how to incorporate colour coding into your note-taking strategies.

My favourite highlighters are the Zebra Mildliners. I love the range of hues they come in. This way, I can change the mood and theme of my notes without changing my colour coding strategy. I can still use pink for terminology, for example. The fact that I can switch between different shades of pink allows me flexibility while staying faithful to my colour key.

How to colour code your notes

Creating charts that compare and contrast information is another terrific way to visually depict information. 

Start with two similar concepts and list out all of the critical, relevant information for the first one.  Then, beside it, list out how the second concept relates to those specific points.  Are they the same?  Does that point not exist?

You can do this with as many relevant topics. You don’t have to limit it to two. Compare as many as are necessary. 

These are also great for testing yourself when your exam is coming up.

Diagrams are the staple of the visual learner.  Try to incorporate them at every opportunity. 

Whenever possible, create your own diagrams.  They might be based on an existing illustration but draw them out yourself.  Drawing it out will help you remember better because you are more intensely studying it than you would be looking at it alone. Learn more about how diagrams help you study here.

First, you have to look at the reference material, then imagine how it will look. Finally, you have to actually draw it.  The drawing process takes a lot of focus for you to make each line.  You will by paying undivided attention, making it more likely that you will remember it.

If you are looking for more things to add to your notes to increase their efficacy, try this article that lists 10 reasons to leave extra space in your notes.

Flashcards

Transform your notes into flashcards that you can quiz yourself with.  Use one of your study sessions to create the flashcards. Afterwards, you will be able to easily review and study the material anytime with little or no setup.

Flashcards can be taken anywhere for a quick study session.  They are a great way to gauge how much you know and how quickly you can access the information.  They can also be used in a multitude of ways.  Check out this article on 10 ways you can use flashcards for more ideas.

10 ways flashcards

I prefer to use paper flashcards because I find that using and creating them can be more engaging.  When I write out the cues on the cards or draw the diagrams, I take the information in much more efficiently.

I also find using apps on my phone distracting. I will pick it up to start studying, and before you know it, I’ve lost an hour on Instagram or TikTok. I have an extremely short attention span, so putting my phone away during study time is a must.

We have a practice quiz template in our study planner and activity tracker.  You can easily use this template to create flashcards for any subject as you read your notes or textbook.  Download it here.

Tips to transform your notes during your study session.

Leave room in your notes and expand them extensively after class.  You can use this opportunity to add things to your notes that you would not usually copy down in lectures. 

Create brainstorms to show how interrelated concepts are connected.  Add charts that compare and contrast similar theories. 

Check out this article that lists 10 things to add to your notes to increase your understanding.

Don’t just read over your notes, highlight, and stylize.  Create a colour coding system that you can use across all of your classes.  Try to limit your colours to no more than 5 and have each mean one thing.

This way, when you look at your notes, you can instantly see the distribution of information.  When reading over your notes, you can quickly quiz yourself by reading the highlighted information and trying to remember what it means.

There are several simple strategies that visual learners can incorporate into their study sessions to improve their efficiency.  These strategies can be extended to note-taking to make it easier and more interesting.

Staying engaged in the note-taking process will translate into better absorption and understanding of the class material.  Learning how to improve note-taking skills simply means finding strategies that work for and engage you.

Don’t forget to pick up our free study planner and activity tracker.  It has more than 20 different activities that you can track for each topic.  Make sure you study each subject in new and exciting ways.

It also has a template that is perfect for creating practice quizzes and flashcards.  You can download it here.

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