The Perfect Mindmap: 6 Step Checklist

A comprehensive guide to mind-mapping for students.

Every week, I distil what really works for improving results, memory, depth of understanding, and knowledge application from over a decade of coaching into bite-sized emails.

=== Paid Training Program ===

(Designed for busy students and professionals aiming to achieve top results without endless studying. 77% of our students cover the same amount of study material in 30% less time within 1 month.)

=== Notes ===

The mindmap is a surprisingly technical skill which tells a lot about a student's cognitive process. For myself and my more experienced academic coaches, we can look at a mindmap and in about 10-20 seconds, have a really solid grasp of this person's level of deep processing and critical thinking.

Mindmaps done wrong are a waste of time. Many people have tried and found it to be ineffective.

In the thousands of students I've worked with, I have never seen a student who did a mindmap with the correct technique who still found it ineffective.

In this video, I introduce a few principles of good mindmapping that when COMBINED with the correct overall study system can produce some incredible effects!

All with the handy mnemonic - GRINDE......

Your comments fuel me! Please leave comments, suggestions and questions freely below. I'd love to discuss anything I talked about in more depth with you!

If you enjoyed what I had to give or found it valuable, a subscribe would be sincerely appreciated.

=== About Dr Justin Sung ===

Dr. Justin Sung is a world-renowned expert in self-regulated learning, certified teacher, research author, and former medical doctor. He has guest lectured on learning skills at Monash University for Master’s and PhD students in Education and Medicine. Over the past decade, he has empowered tens of thousands of learners worldwide to dramatically improve their academic performance, learning efficiency, and motivation.

[JustinSung]

Every week, I distil what really works for improving results, memory, depth of understanding, and knowledge application from over a decade of coaching into bite-sized emails.

[dreusu]

Grouped - Organizing concepts and Ideas into groups
Reflective - how the mind processed the information
Interconnected - categorizing and creating more connections within the groups
Non Verbal - More doodling and symbols
Directional - Cause & Effect
Emphasize - emphasizing the main concepts

[davegoodo]

Hi Justin, thank you for such a great video. I'm 65 years and I don't believe it is ever too late! I've deferred 12 months of my Grad Dip in Maths to prepare for the more difficult Maths that awaits me. Your video was inspiring for me (and my wife). I need to put Maths concepts into MindMaps to assist with that deep learning you refer to. I'm a real linear note-taker and I want to change that to learn more deeply. I am grateful for your heart felt video, I'll watch it again to get more out of it. Thanks again!

[kristoffer]

Justin Sung’s GRINDE Map
- Grouped - Organizing concepts and Ideas into groups.
- Reflective - It should reflect how your mind processed the information
- Interconnected - Categorizing and creating more connections within the groups
- Non-verbal - More doodling and symbols, less words.
- Directional - You can see the Cause & Effect or the levels of priority. It should flow.
- Emphasize - emphasizing the main concepts

[pm]

I have ADHD and this is already how my brain works. I've always been very good at logic. Now I'm thinking I developed that way because I had to. My brain has always needed to compress information so that I can make use of my less-than-average working memory. Looking at Bloom's Taxonomy, I tend to reach understanding far quicker than most but my ability to remember is limited haha.

[danielleb.]

Merci! J'ai 71 ans et je suis très heureuse d'apprendre encore!

[SteveTaki]

I tried this mind map technique. It retained what i studied for the board exam. It gave me good results in practice tests. But still, im tweaking on how to improve it. Thank you for sharing this technique. Its a life changing experience.

[BushraTariq._.]

I remember using a mind map to study for a biology test. I basically just doodled it and drew a lot of lines and arrows connecting things together and verbally saying outloud what I had drawn. It was very useful, and years later, I still remember the topic. 👍

[saintinlower]

I wish I had known this while going through college instead of just writing with pen on paper as fast as I could during a lecture. At the time, I wished I'd known shorthand. But now with my kids, I want to learn more to teach them through these tutorials to help them get through college (one's in and another about to attend) more effectively than I did.

[theoldaccountthatiusedtous]

I've just started mindmapping as the way I write in my journal. It's helped so much! I'll get whatever's in my brain on paper, then put a little start next to anything I want to expand on. All of a sudden I went from being "bad at journaling" to really finding it useful!

[diegofernandez]

I appreciate your effort on providing free resources like these to those who do not have the money to access the course. Thank you!

[Syn]

Wait I watched a video on cryptocurrencies a few months back and the way I took notes is I just drew arrows branching off one after another (I was bored and too lazy to do the usual linear note taking method I use for school) and it's something that's been stuck in my head for ages even though I don't review at all, I can recall a lot easier when I'm introducing it to friends or random people than the topics I learned for school. I always wondered why I had an easier time learning when I didn't even stress out learning everything for months, then it finally clicked. I already did most of the hard work while I was processing the information watching videos...IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW

[Murcatto-huym]

Extra tip when doodling, make it funny/weird and name your stick figures and turn it into a story. It makes it much easier to recall that Bob the white blood cell with the eagle tattoo on his back fights the evil virus biker dudes who want to destroy his home. It gives you an easier pathway into the information you are trying to remember.

[specialagro]

Mind map is working for me very well. I’ve used it and it’s by far better and faster than the normal word to word method I’ve used before. I can read and grab the information of over 25 page’s within fewer minutes now. It’s has improved my reading and understanding and remembering what I’ve read by like over 35%.

[anitragarza]

Where have you been throughout my entire school journey? I'm just two classes away from earning my Master's degree, and I absolutely love your lessons! If I had discovered this sooner, Nursing school would have been so much more manageable. Thank you! I can't wait to explore everything else I've been missing out on. I will definitely pass this knowledge on to my kids and grandkids!

[thomasteepe]

How can we use mind maps for problem solving?
I've done some experiments - here's a short summary.

I use the following three building blocks, which I can combine in different ways.

Building block 1 - the sheet layout:
I use an A4 sheet in landscape format and divide it in 3x3 boxes of equal size - there's no need for exactness and I do it without a ruler.
Alternatively, I can use 3 columns and make boxes of different sizes - but at the beginning, 3x3 boxes are easier to handle.
I fill the boxes in column 1, then in column 2 and then in column 3.

Building block 2 - the box layout:
I use each box for a simple small mind map. The size limit of the box will come as a surprise, but it has a number of advantages which I will describe in a moment.
Instead of mind maps, I can use diagrams, ordinary text with indentations or math terms.

Building block 3 - thinking tools:
I can use thinking tools as topics for the small mind maps, to stimulate my thinking about the problem, like: What are key questions? What are my options? How can I split the problem into smaller parts?
I find a personal collection of thinking tools very useful - I have a corkboard over my work table and can access dozens of tools and stimuli with one glance.

For me, this process has four main advantages.
First, a conventional mind maps works best with a couple of main branches of equal size. In problem solving however, I often want to develop only one or two branches over many steps, and this leads to an unsymmetrical, unbalanced mind map.
Secondly, moving from one box to the next needs a moment of orientation - where do I stand, and what can I do next? This re-orientation happens much more often in the 3x3 layout than in an ordinary mind map.
Thirdly, I find it easier to reflect on a previous thought in a new box than in a branch of an ordinary mind map.
Fourth, the combination of mind maps and thinking tools seems very powerful to me.

Some remarks:
Depending on handwriting size, paper size and personal taste, we can experiment with 2x2, 3x3 or 4x4 boxes.
As a fourth building block I'm using a zettelkasten to organize my sheets - but that's outside the scope of this comment.

[hellokitkats]

GRINDE map
Grouped
Reflective ( of your mind )
Interconnected
Non verbal
Directional
Emphasise

[Leysje.]

i used mindmaps completely wrong and they still worked. I had to study 60 pages for a fairly hard subject in mechanical engineering and insyead of memorizing and rote learning all the information on those pages, i focused on figuring out the main concepts and bigger picture and from that created a mindmap that made no sense at all. in total i ended studying 3 hours for the test and i got the highest grade. most people that studied for double or even tripple that time in a linear fasion still failed the test from how hard it was to rote learn concepts of which you have little to no understanding.

[gilbertliebenberg]

Commenting to boost your likeliness to get recommended. This content deserves to be seen by a lot more people.

[vesparesonance]

I think that your content is very well aimed towards audience who seek out actual understanding rather than concept talks that are all over youtube without any focus on the information. Keep it up and I hope to see your channel flourish. Thank you for the information!