Have you noticed that you retain information better when you see it on a graph instead of hearing it? Or maybe you understand better when you take notes by hand? That's normal. Everyone learns differently, and that's where the VARK model comes in.
The VARK model, published by Neil Fleming and Colleen Mills in 1992, describes four main learning styles: Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic. Understanding your preferences helps you pick formats you enjoy.
A word of honesty: your preference is real, but tailoring teaching or study to your preferred style does not improve results. A review by Harold Pashler and colleagues (2008, Psychological Science in the Public Interest) found no solid evidence for this idea, known as "meshing", and an experiment with college-educated adults found no difference in comprehension between those who learned in their preferred format and those who did not (Rogowsky et al., 2015). What works, whatever your profile: testing yourself on the material instead of re-reading it, and spreading your study sessions over time (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Your profile helps you pick formats you enjoy, not replace those two techniques.
The Four VARK Styles Decoded
Visual: You learn by seeing. Graphs, diagrams, flowcharts, and videos fascinate you. When you close your eyes to think, you visualize information as images. Colors, spacing, and shapes speak to you more than words alone.
Auditory: You learn by listening. Discussions, verbal explanations, and podcasts are your allies. You tend to talk while working, to have things explained to you rather than read a manual. Music, rhythms, and the tone of voices stick easily in your head.
Read/Write: You learn best by reading and writing. Books, detailed articles, and lists make you comfortable. You like taking notes, creating flashcards, and revising through writing. Words are your favorite medium for absorbing and organizing knowledge.
Kinesthetic: You learn by doing and feeling. Hands-on experiences, manipulation, and concrete projects speak to you much more than purely abstract theory. You need to move, experiment, and learn by trial and error.
Heads Up: You're Probably Not 100% One Style
Here's the major pitfall of the VARK model: many people believe they must belong to ONE unique and fixed style. That's wrong. Most learners are multimodal and combine several styles depending on the context.
An engineer can be very auditory in meetings to discuss software architecture, but kinesthetic when coding. A student can be visual for biology (lots of diagrams) but read/write for history (lots of text to absorb).
The truth? Your style can evolve over time and context. That's why it's useful to develop strategies in ALL styles, rather than boxing yourself into just one.
Practical Strategies for Each Style
For Visuals: Create colorful mind maps, use color coding for your notes, watch explanatory videos, create infographics of your coursework, draw concept diagrams. In a meeting, ask for slides or diagrams rather than just verbal explanations.
For Auditory Learners: Join study groups where you can discuss, record your lectures and listen to them during commutes, explain out loud what you're learning (technical memo), listen to educational podcasts, ask for oral feedback. Meetings and discussions are your comfort zone.
For Readers/Writers: Read articles and books, write summary flashcards, create detailed lists, annotate your documents, rewrite your notes in an organized way. Complete guides and detailed texts are more effective for you than a simple verbal explanation.
For Kinesthetic Learners: Do hands-on projects, learn through demonstration followed by practice, use interactive apps or games, take courses with workshops rather than lectures, experiment on your own, create physical content (models, prototypes).
Adapt Your Notes and Presentations
During a class or training, try this based on your main style:
If you're more visual, leave plenty of margin on the right side of your notebook to add sketches, diagrams, or color codes as you review your notes. Use Notion or OneNote to organize your notes with colored blocks.
If you're auditory, don't force yourself to fill pages. Take minimal notes and review by listening to a recording of the lecture or talking to yourself. Find a friend to explain your learning to each other.
If you're a reader, take detailed and written notes, create a personal glossary, summarize each session in complete sentences. Handouts and written references are your best tools.
If you're kinesthetic, combine listening with movement: walk while you review, fidget with an object, take breaks with exercises. Practical cases and simulations will help you much more than pure theory.
Conclusion: Know Yourself to Learn Better
Your learning style is not a limit, it's a compass. By recognizing your natural preferences, you can pick formats you enjoy, and by combining them with the two techniques that work for everyone (testing yourself, spacing out your study sessions), retain better and enjoy the process more.
The key is experimentation: try the strategies that match your style and observe what really works for you. And remember, nothing stops you from developing your other learning modes too. Cognitive flexibility is a superpower.
Want to discover your VARK learning style in detail? Take the quiz and receive a personalized profile with your optimal strategies.