Know Your Brain by Amy

Know Your Brain by Amy - May 2016 Scholarship Essay

A firm believer of the practicality of personality tests and theory, I use analyses of people every day to decide the most effective way of interacting with them. As anyone would expect, each person is different, but the peculiarities of each person often go unnoticed, even by the person holding the trait themselves. While overlooked as "fake psychology" and equivalent to believing in zodiac signs, introspection is crucial during one's effort to learn and especially for studying, as the method to take is unknown if the self is unknown. In particular, I use the Enneagram and MBTI to direct my method of studying, and it has proved to be extremely effective. As a Type 4 on the Enneagram, individuality and authenticity are some of my most important values, and these are reflected in my notes, especially those used for finals studying – I strive to make the material important to me. I dislike engaging in activities I know are not authentic to my personality, so I find aspects of the subject that peak my interest and then build interest along from there. For example, I initially hated my sophomore year chemistry class because I was unable to find any meaning in all the numbers and equations relevant to the subject, but with my attempt and success at finding personal interest by exploring the history about chemistry's precursor, alchemy, and making connections between what I have learned on my own time and the material I have learned in the class, observing how the subject has changed over time, I was able to study without all the frustration. Without building personal connections like these, I probably would have failed the class, given how impersonal and emotionally meaningless the course felt at one point in time. In addition to making the substance important to me, I make sure the way in which I perceive and memorize the content is enjoyable, specifically the physical appearance of the study material. I look forward to studying and taking notes because I am getting the chance to prepare for finals and to improve myself via learning more information all while expressing myself with the drawings and designs I put in my notebooks. I hold much appreciation for design and aesthetics, making the experience of looking back at my notes to memorize the material an exam an enjoyable one. If my notes are not aesthetically pleasing, I will find a way to make them so, which further extends the creative aspect of studying. While professors may hand out course materials for reference, the student is responsible for learning the material in a way specific to them, and decorating my exam study material, though it may not sound sophisticated, happens to be my way. In regard to my cognitive functions on the MBTI, my first two are introverted feeling and extroverted intuition, so personal feeling to me is of course very important, but without the acknowledgement of my Ne function, I would be unable to learn material and study for finals as easily as I do. I learn by first recognizing the major backbones and fundamental components of lessons before diving into the more specific details. As expressed earlier, I have a hard time learning meaningless, disconnected facts so I learn the significance of the facts as a combined subject before the facts individually. This way, I am able to categorize study material more easily, like adding pieces to a large, complex web. It makes all the specifics more accessible to recall if I get the big idea down first. A very crucial situation in which I had to utilize the knowledge of my Ne function was my Crime In America class last year, which heavily involved statistical data, which would have been hard for me to remember if it were not for my familiarization with the major concepts associated with the data. Every student should take the MBTI and Enneagram tests to learn how to personalize and therefore maximize their learning experience. For example, a Type 2 individual may want to learn ways in which studying the material can be potentially useful for helping others, and a Type 6 individual might think that learning a material is practical for preserving their lifestyle and for more security. Tests for visual, verbal, and kinetic learning styles underestimate the complexities of people far more than "generalizing" personality tests do. When it comes down to basics, the most helpful aspect of the way I study is applying knowledge about the way I process and memorize facts. Understanding oneself will ultimately help in the effort of understanding any material.