THE MEGA MIND MAP

How do you eat an elephant? Of course the answer is one bite at a time. Now this has nothing to do with what I am going to write about, it is just that I have always wanted to include that joke in my writing somewhere!

Elsewhere I have written both about Mind Mapping and the importance of reviewing the Mind Maps on a regular basis to ensure that the information is conditioned in your mind so that you can recall it easily whenever you need to. However, if you are on an intensive course of study, you will find that it is quite easy to become overwhelmed by the ever increasing number of Mind Maps accumulating in your folders. Having Mind Maps is still going to be a much more efficient way of note taking but even so, how do you keep track of all this information so that you don't let confusion creep in?

One way could be to keep a log of your Mind Maps, together with a record of when to review them. All you would have to do is check the log on a daily basis, see if today's date is in any of the columns and then review that particular Mind Map. An example of what the log might look like is:

Those of you who are organised and like detail will love this method. It does take a bit of discipline but the effort is worth it to make sure that you are not left with 2 weeks of revision to cram into one evening (sound familiar?).

Another method of keeping on top of your Mind Maps is to draw a single large Mind Map called a Mega Mind Map that covers your entire topic. So you could have one for Maths, one for Geography and so on. The Mega Mind Map builds up over time as your course progresses. All you do is add the key points from your lessons to it. The beauty of it is that eventually you will see the entire topic on one large piece of paper (use flip chart paper or perhaps the back of a roll of wall paper or even the back of an old poster) but you will also see it develop and grow. Having this overview will help identify the structure of the subject and the relationships between the various elements of the subject matter. All you need to do is to review the Mega Mind Map once a week for about 20 minutes, reinforcing what you already know and integrating what you have most recently learnt. As you get closer to your examinations, review it more often. This way you don't need to lose what you have learnt in class and it will mean less time studying and more time having fun.

Faced with a completed Mega Mind Map it can be quite overwhelming but if you realise that it grew gradually over a number of weeks and months, (one bite at a time?), you can see how a daunting task can be made quite manageable. It really is as simple as that.

To ask about any aspect of Accelerated Learning, e-mail michael2007 (at) happychild.org.uk . Due to Michael's hectic schedule, he may not be able to write back, but will do his best to cover the main issues raised, in future articles [more about Michael on the page here].

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