Knowing your learning styles—how you like to learn—can help you be more successful with your studies by incorporating your brain’s natural learning preferences into your approaches to studying and learning.

One tool that is available to help you identify your how you prefer to learn is the VARK questionnaire. It focuses on the following areas:

Visual (V)
Visual learners prefer to learn information via charts, graphs, flow charts, and other symbolic means that instructors use to represent what could have been presented in words.

Aural / Auditory (A)
Learners who have auditory preferences like to "hear" what they are learning and learn best from lectures, tutorials, tapes, group discussion, speaking, web chat, and talking things through.

Read/write (R)
Some learners prefer to receive information through words. Not surprisingly, many professors have a strong preference for this modality. This preference emphasizes text-based input and output - reading and writing in all its forms.

Kinesthetic (K)
By definition, this learning style refers to the "perceptual preference related to the use of experience and practice (simulated or real)." In plain English, kinesthetic learners like to learn through hands-on activities, either in real-life situations, such as work-based learning, or in simulated lab environments.

The VARK questionnaire is short—only 13 questions—but the information that it will give you in invaluable to helping you develop study strategies. You may take the VARK questionnaire online or print a PDF version of the VARK and score yourself.

Please Note: Learning styles, or preferences, are not the same as learning disabilities, dyslexia, or neurological disorders. If you have any concerns about your learning abilities or have further questions, please make an appointment with a CBC Counselor by calling 509-547-0511 Ext. 2305.