What’s Your Learning Style? Revision Tips for Students
22 October 2026By Daniel, Staff writer at Unite Students
Exams, assessments and deadlines can be stressful enough without feeling like your revision isn’t working too.
The good news? There’s no one ‘right’ way to study. What helps your coursemate remember something might do absolutely nothing for you.
Understanding how you prefer to learn can help you experiment with different study techniques and find a routine that works for you.
Whether exams are around the corner or you’re simply trying to stay on top of your course, here are four learning preferences worth exploring.
Find your learning style:
What are the different learning styles?
Some people need to see something before it clicks. Others prefer hearing it explained, writing it down or actually putting it into practice.
Visual, auditory, read/write and kinaesthetic are four common ways of describing these different learning preferences.
You don't need to put yourself into one box. You might relate to a couple of them, or find that different approaches work better depending on what you're studying.
Instead, think of them as a way to explore different study techniques. If your current routine isn't working for you, there's no harm in trying something new.
Visual learning
If pictures, diagrams and seeing how things connect helps information make more sense, you might prefer visual learning.
When you've got pages of notes to get through, turning them into something you can see at a glance can make everything feel a little more manageable.
Turn your notes into diagrams
Got a complicated topic to understand? Try swapping paragraphs of notes for a diagram, flowchart or timeline.
Breaking everything down visually can help you see how different ideas relate to each other without having to reread pages of information.
And don't worry about making it look perfect. These are your notes. As long as they make sense to you, they're doing their job.
Create mind maps
Mind maps can be particularly handy when you're trying to get your head around a bigger topic.
Put the main subject in the middle, then work outwards with important theories, facts, examples or dates.
When you've finished, put your notes to one side and see how much of your mind map you can recreate from memory.
Use colour to organise your notes
If opening your notebook feels like being greeted by a wall of text, a little colour can help.
Try using different colours for specific types of information. You could have one for important dates, another for key definitions and another for examples.
Just don't feel like you need to highlight everything. Keep it focused on the information you'll actually want to find again.
Watch it in action
Struggling to understand something from your notes alone? Sometimes seeing it explained or demonstrated differently can help.
Try watching a relevant video or demonstration. Once you've watched it, give yourself a minute to explain what happened without looking back.
Auditory learning
If you remember what someone said more easily than what was written on a slide, you might prefer auditory learning.
Sitting silently with a textbook isn't the only way to study. Hearing information and talking things through can give you another way to make sense of a topic.
Explain it out loud
Choose something you're studying, put your notes away and try to explain it in your own words.
Imagine you're explaining it to a friend who's never studied your course before.
If you get stuck halfway through, that's OK. You've just found something you might want to spend a little more time on.
Study with friends
If studying alone is starting to feel a bit isolating, try getting together with a coursemate.
Ask each other questions, compare how you'd approach a topic or take turns explaining different ideas. Sometimes hearing someone put something in a completely different way is all you need for it to finally click.
Give yourself a break from reading
If you've spent hours staring at the same notes, switch things up.
Try a relevant podcast, lecture, video or discussion about the subject you're studying. Afterwards, jot down the main things you remember or explain them out loud.
Test yourself out loud
Turn the information you're learning into questions and try answering them without checking your notes.
Don't worry if you can't answer everything straight away. Testing yourself is about finding the areas that need more attention, not proving how much you already know.
Read/write learning
If your desk tends to fill up with lists, notes and flashcards when you've got an assessment coming up, you might prefer read/write learning.
For you, putting things into your own words could be one of the most useful ways to understand what you're learning.
Rewrite your notes in your own words
This doesn't mean copying out an entire textbook. Your hand probably won't thank you for that either.
Instead, take a topic and challenge yourself to explain it more simply.
Think about what you'd need to know if you were coming back to these notes tomorrow, next week or just before an exam.
Break big topics into smaller lists
A whole module can feel overwhelming. A short list of things to focus on? Much more manageable.
Try breaking bigger topics into key facts, dates, theories or arguments.
You'll also give yourself something quicker to revisit when exams or assessments get closer.
Make flashcards that actually test you
Flashcards can be useful, but try not to turn them into another set of notes to reread.
Put a question, term or topic on one side and the answer on the other. Give yourself time to answer before turning it over.
Got it wrong? No stress. Put it back in the pile and try it again later.
Make your own glossary
If you're trying to remember loads of terminology, create one place for all of it.
Keep each definition short and write it in language that makes sense to you. You'll have something simple to come back to whenever you need a refresher.
Kinaesthetic learning
If you've been reading the same paragraph over and over and nothing's going in, it might be time to do something with the information instead.
You might prefer kinaesthetic learning if you enjoy practising, trying things out and connecting what you're learning to real situations.
Put your knowledge into practice
Rather than reading your notes again, test what you can actually do with them.
Depending on your course, that could mean answering a practice question, working through a calculation, practising a skill or having a go at a past paper.
You don't need to get everything right. Finding out what you don't know is a useful part of studying too.
Connect it to real life
Sometimes an idea doesn't make much sense until you can see where you'd actually use it.
Try connecting what you're learning to real situations, case studies or examples.
You could even create your own examples to check whether you understand the topic well enough to apply it.
Make studying more hands-on
Think about ways you can physically interact with what you're learning.
You could sort flashcards into different topics, arrange events into the right order or practise something instead of reading about how it's done.
It doesn't need to be complicated. The goal is simply to actively use the information.
Give yourself permission to move
Productive studying doesn't have to mean sitting at your desk for hours.
If you're losing concentration, take a proper break. Get some fresh air, make some food or simply move somewhere else for a bit.
Coming back refreshed could be much more useful than forcing yourself through another hour when nothing's going in.
Can you have more than one learning style?
Of course.
You might love mind maps for one module but find practice questions much more useful for another. Or you might read about something first, talk it through with a friend and finish by testing yourself.
There's no need to decide you're one particular ‘type’ of learner and stick to it.
Try different approaches. Keep the ones that help. Drop the ones that don't.
Your study routine should work for you, not the other way around.
Finding a study routine that works for you
When exams and deadlines start stacking up, it's easy to look at what everyone else is doing and question whether you're doing enough.
Your flatmate has made hundreds of flashcards. Someone in the library has somehow been there since 7am. Your social feed is suddenly full of perfectly organised revision notes.
You don't need to keep up with any of them.
There's no perfect study routine. What matters is finding techniques that help you understand what you're learning without running yourself into the ground.
Take breaks. Get some sleep. Make time for things you enjoy. And don't beat yourself up over the odd study session where nothing seems to stick.
Whether exams are next week or months away, getting to know what works for you now can make those busier periods feel a little more manageable.
And if exams, assessments or uni life start to feel overwhelming, you don't have to deal with it by yourself. Talk to someone you trust or reach out to your university's student support or wellbeing team.
FAQs
How do I know what my learning style is?
Think about what helps information make sense when you’re studying. Do diagrams help things click? Do you like talking ideas through? Maybe writing notes helps, or you prefer putting what you’ve learnt into practice.You don’t need to fit neatly into one learning style. Try a few different techniques and pay attention to what helps you understand and remember the information.
What are the four main learning styles?
The four learning preferences covered in this article are visual, auditory, read/write and kinaesthetic. They describe different ways you might prefer to work with information, from diagrams and discussions to writing and hands-on practice.
Which learning style is best for revision?
There isn’t one learning style that’s best for revision. What matters is finding techniques that help you actively understand and remember what you’re learning. Try different approaches and don’t worry if the techniques that work for your coursemates aren’t as useful for you.
What if my usual revision techniques aren't working?
Switch things up. If rereading your notes isn’t helping, you could turn them into a mind map, explain the topic out loud or test yourself with practice questions. And if you’re struggling to concentrate, give yourself a break. Forcing yourself to keep going when nothing’s sinking in can add even more pressure.
How can I make revision less stressful?
Start by breaking your studying into smaller, manageable tasks rather than trying to tackle everything at once. Give yourself proper breaks, make time for sleep and remember that you don’t need to copy someone else’s revision routine. If exam stress starts to feel overwhelming, speak to someone you trust or reach out to your university’s student support or wellbeing team.
How early should I start revising for an exam?
There’s no perfect time that works for everyone. Starting earlier can give you more space to break topics into manageable chunks and work out which areas need more attention, rather than trying to cover everything at once right before an exam.
Can my learning style change?
You might find your preferences change depending on what you’re learning. A mind map might be great for one topic, while practice questions are more useful for another. Think of your learning preferences as flexible rather than something you have to stick with.
