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Using Mind Maps For Studying
The Mind Map Organic Study Technique (MMOST)
Mind Maps have been used by students of all ages and at all levels for
many years with dramatic results. The MMOST technique is described in
Tony Buzan’s Use Your Head book. There are eight basic steps:
1. Very quickly browse or look through the entire book or article,
getting a general feel for the way it is organised
2. Work out the length of time to be spent studying and determine the
amount of material to be covered in that time
3. Mind Map what you already know in that subject area in order to
establish associative mental ‘grappling hooks’
4. Define your aims and objectives for this study session and complete a
different Mind Map of all the questions that need to be answered
5. Take an overview of the text, looking at the table of contents, major
headings, results, conclusions, summaries, major illustrations or
graphs, and any other important elements which catch your eye. This
process will give you the central image and main branches (or basic
Ordering Ideas) of your new polycategoric Mind Map of the text. Many
students report that they have often complete 90% of their learning task
by the time they finish the overview stage. By focusing on the overall
structure and major elements of the text m the author’s essential
ordering impetus rapidly becomes clear and can easily be Mind Mapped.
6. Now move on the preview, looking at all the material not covered in
the overview, particularly the beginnings and ends of paragraphs,
sections and chapters, where the essential information tends to be
concentrated. Add to your Mind Map.
7. The next stage is the inview, in which you fill in the build of the
learning puzzle, still skipping over any major problem areas. Having
familiarised yourself with the rest of the text, you should now find it
much easier to understand these passages and bulk out your Mind Map.
Finally there is the review stage, in which you go back over the
difficult areas you skipped in the earlier stages and look back over the
text to answer any remaining questions or fulfil any remaining
objectives. At this point you should complete your Mind Map notes.
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