Learning Techniques for Pattern Thinkers

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I am mainly a pattern thinker, although I am a bit visual too.

Can anyone suggest revision techniques that I could use this skill well with?

Also I struggle to make lots of notes in lectures due to dyspraxia - can anyone suggest methods that I could use to make notes, also using my pattern thinking skill?

If it helps, I am known for my great memory for train maps / things like the periodic table (I can memorise a train map by looking at it for 15 minutes) and strings of numbers (ie 400 decimal places of pi).

I am a pattern thinker but I think in visual patterns in my head. Something that I found unusual is that I can't really hold numbers in my head. They often come out scrabbled when I do convert them visually, mentally, and then to paper. Dyscalculia does run in my family even though I have never been tested. I mentioned it during my Autism Spectrum Disorder testing but they just assumed it was due to autism. Anyways, sorry about that I rambled. Oh, I also excel in programing, programing theory, and music theory for some reason. I can fully remember and understand basic numbers on a musical level. Weird I know. Ugh, ok what I am trying to say is that what worked for me with note taking is writing is in my own way. You say you are amazing with numbers? Write it down in a number format. For example when I took notes in college it was all in a programming format. When I learned medical coding and billing it was all in a programming format. For example I wrote things in if and else statements. I would suggest trying it in a mathematical formula that you are familiar with.

Example:
If inpatient death add death note 55 else no mod reqiured.
I even sometimes write my notes like this;
#if {death} [mod 55] [nothing]
which is exactly what i just said but in cscript (was zscript) which is a scripting language I used since I was 14.
I hope that helps.

I am wondering if it would be possible to video the class. My daughter is an auditory learner and we have found this helpful for her to be able to go back and listen to the lecture again - taking notes just doesn't work for her.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I will try to convert my notes into a numerical format. I'll test out various systems.

Unfortunately I am not a good auditory learner at all.

I used to be good at programming too (I'm out of practice now) so I could try your method.

You haven't given us enough information to help you.

What is easiest for you to learn?
What is hardest for you to learn?
Is there any matrix by which you can relate the latter to the former?

On pages 28-29 of Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures, she states that all people on the spectrum think in details and that there are three basic categories of specialised brains. These are:

1. Visual thinkers (the most common, apparently)
2. Music and math thinkers
3. Verbal logic thinkers (the rarest, apparently)

However, I did not excel at any subject at school, and thus it's difficult for me to discern which category my brain falls under - if any at all.

If I am one of the three then it would be number 2.

For example, whenever I see the time displayed on a digital clock, my brain seemingly automatically processes the numbers as ratios.

Let's say the time is 9:54. I immediately detect this as 1:6.

Is this normal?

Or is it a small indication that I am a music/math thinker?

My apologies if I appear self-centred; I just feel I need to broaden my understanding of my brain's chemistry to successfully function in society. The recent diagnosis of HFA was quite a shock for me.

I've always been a good note-taker (other people say so, too) so I might have relatively little to offer you, but I will mention that I learned most effectively when I employed multiple passes over the material. In really hard classes such as neuroscience, I took extensive notes, employing certain idiosyncratic abbreviations and symbols. Then I typed the notes and put that in a notebook. Finally I edited the typed document to turn it into flash cards, which I then used to aid memorization. I am saying that I actually printed the bits of information out on 3x5 index cards.

I also used an outline form of organization in my mind, even when the content did not particularly lend itself to it.

I am NOT a good auditory learner, but if I can write everything down, I can process it. Sometimes a lecturer will say "you don't need to take notes, this is in your handout," but in fact I DO need to take notes because if I just listen, my attention will wander.

I have never been good at programming, and I have difficulty keeping numbers straight in my mind, which makes it fairly impossible to do mental arithmetic.

Flowcharts

I don't take notes. In my situation, my teacher's lecture is built largely around a Power Point file which we are able to download and use with our text. I don't have total recall of all that he says, but as I go through the Power Point or do my homework it kind of jogs my memory. Or if not, I just dig it out of the book again.

I suppose some of these issues can depend a lot on the subject. I'm studying computer programming and I can't scribble down a bunch of code and curly brackets that fast and have it be readable.

I relate to this. Due to terrible and slow handwriting I can't keep up with taking notes in lectures. Moreover, I can't manage to focus on the content of the lecture while trying to take notes so I would have to pause to understand the matter which delays my writing even more. I also find it difficult to structure my notes because I don't understand beforehand how the lecturer is organizing what he/she is writing on the blackboard (titles/subtitles/flow of logic arguments/etc.). If I don't take notes my mind goes elsewhere and I become restless. Due to all of this I rarely learn something at lectures.

But I still love academics and is pursuing a PhD now. For me, the best way of learning is to sit alone with a book and read while trying to derive the equations myself. I have a decent long term memory although nothing extraordinary, so if I really need to memorize something and have lots of time I sometimes write notes from what I've just read. This also helps me organize the material in a (to me) most structured and consistent way, not only on paper but also in my mind.

To me, lectures simply are not a good way to learn. Have you considered other ways of learning?