When I was in secondary and further education, I would often struggle with organising my studying schedule. Getting the right information out from resources such as lectures and books involved a lot of reading, note-taking and of course mind mapping. It wasn't the perfect method, but it worked. The downside of it was that I was constantly reviewing my notes and not doing much else.

For students today though, there's now an easier and more efficient method of studying that involves visual mapping.

Concise Learning is a new study method that aims to help students excel using a study process that centres around visual mapping. The book's author, Tony Krasnic, has developed the method from years of experience as a professor and as a student coach.

The method itself consists of 5 phases with each phase consisting of 4 steps. The steps in each phase are the same, so with each change of phase you become more and more familiar with the steps involved.

Using this method you build up your knowledge using an iterative process that forces you to continual review and question the relevant information you have and use it in practical examples.

By using visual mapping, you're embracing an active and cognitive process that is a far more interesting and beneficial method than the constant memorization that previous methods relied on.

The book itself is packed with useful resources including a chapter on visual maps that describes what they are and how to create them, as well as a chapter on common skills that Tony Krasnic has identified in successful students which he has termed "Skills of Success". These skills are even included as visual maps in the appendix of the book. Additional relevant visual maps created Adam Sicinski of IQ Matrix have also been included.

If you're a student then you'll know we're at the start of a new term. This is the ideal time to start looking at how you're going to study for the topic you have chosen.

The thing about education though is that it's more than simply remembering the important facts. Unless you can apply the knowledge you have gained in practical exercises and continual review your knowledge, you won't have gained the full benefit of studying your selected topic.

I highly recommend this book for students or parent of students who are seeking to get the most from their education. It's a short read but provides plenty of value with a structured study guide that students will benefit from 

Disclaimer: As a mind mapper I think it's important to give you the full benefit of tools that will help you mind map. Sometimes I get an offer to review a book. However, don't be under any impression that this means that I'll give a good review. If I think a book is bad, I'll let you know. If it's good or better, I'll definitely let you know.

Life coaching is something that we could all do with from time to time. Rather than buying books, reading hundreds of articles and adopting different methods, IQ Matrix have created the Master Mind Matrix.  It's life coaching mind map of sorts that you can use for your achieving any goals you have in life.

IQ Matrix are a company that specialize in providing materials and tools for people interested in furthering themselves through advanced learning whether it’s for work, education or life.

The man behind IQ Matrix and the creator of the Master Mind matrix is Adam Sicinski. Adam is a Qualified Life Coach and an Accelerated Learning Professional from Australia. Through his experiences with mind mapping, concept mapping and other forms of mapping, Adam found a way of combining the benefits of each form of mapping into maps that provide accelerated learning strategies. These learning strategies then became the basis of what IQ Matrix produce today.

So now you know the creator of the Master Mind matrix, let’s have a look at the matrix itself.

The Master Mind Matrix Chart

The main idea behind the matrix is to help guide the reader to achieve success from their goals by looking at different areas such as

• Goal Setting
• Time Management Strategies
• Creative Thinking Skills
• Qualities of Success and many more!

Your first impressions of the Master Mind matrix is it’s vast size. I’ve seen lots of people produce vast visual maps and imagery before, but where this map is different is the amount of logical associations and connections that are made between different topics on the matrix.  All the topics presented flow together and are always located within proximity of each other.  This helps make the map so easy to read and follow.

As you can see from the screen shot on human beliefs, values and self-concept, the detail that has went into each section is extremely thorough.  Each topic has been significantly researched by Adam and is the accumulation of years of study and examination.

Not only does the matrix have a great depth of details, but it makes great use of color, imagery, associations and keywords to give the matrix a mind map feel that many people are already familiar with.

Throughout the matrix there are also references to other IQ Matrix matrices that show an area of the Master Mind Matrix in more detail.  Over time as you get more familiar with the ideas presented in this matrix, you'll want to dig deeper to explore more about these ideas.  Having these references means you'll be able to explore these ideas further using similar matrices from IQ Matrix.

Conclusion

For too long now, people have been bombarded with technical solutions that aim to enhance or help them in life. While the claim sounds good, the actual outcome is that we are lumped down with a piece of software that we work our life around. The Master Mind matrix is a low-tech and simple solution that people should consider, as it fits in around you.  It's a long term learning strategy that should be absorbed slowly over time in order to make use of the

For anyone looking to advance themselves in any area of their life, this is a recommended purchase.

The Master Mind matrix isn’t far away from being a true mind map, but with such a similarity too mind mapping, it’s hard not to see the benefit from such an advanced learning tool.

The Master Mind matrix is available from the IQ Matrix shop.