You can copy the study method that works brilliantly for the smartest person in your class, and somehow it does nothing for you. The flashcards that saved them leaves you cold. The podcast they swear by drifts straight past. It is easy to read that as proof you are the problem, that you are simply worse at this than they are. You are not. You probably process information differently to them, and once you know how, you can stop borrowing methods that were never built for your brain.
The idea that we each lean toward different ways of taking in information goes back to a model called VARK, put forward by the New Zealand educator Neil Fleming in the late 1980s. It sorts learners into four leanings: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, and reading and writing. Fleming was careful about this, and so am I: these are leanings, not rigid boxes. Most of us are a blend, pulling from more than one depending on the subject in front of us. Think of the four types of the VARK model as a menu, not a cage.
The Four Types of Learners
Here is the quick tour. Read them as a spectrum you sit somewhere along, not four doors you have to pick one of. You will probably recognise yourself in more than one, and that is exactly the point.
The Visual Learner
If you are a visual learner, you take in information best when you can see it laid out. Diagrams, charts, graphs and images do more for you than paragraphs ever will, and you probably reach for highlighters to colour-code your notes without anyone telling you to. Mind maps feel natural, because they let you see how ideas connect rather than just listing them. To study to your strength: turn text into visuals wherever you can, build flashcards with images or symbols, colour-code by theme, and lean on good educational video when a concept refuses to sit still on the page.
The Auditory Learner
Auditory learners learn by ear. You absorb a lecture or a recorded explanation far better than the same content on paper, and you probably catch yourself repeating things out loud to make them stick. Group discussion is where you come alive, because talking an idea through is how you actually think it out. To study to your strength: record lectures and replay them while you review, read your notes aloud, use rhymes or mnemonics to lock in lists, and explain what you are learning to someone else, a study group, or the wall if no one else is about.
The Kinaesthetic Learner
Kinaesthetic learners, sometimes called tactile learners, need to do the thing. Reading about it is not enough; you understand it once your hands are on it. In wine, this is the learner who finally gets soil and climate not from a textbook but from standing in the vineyard, and who learns a grape by tasting through it rather than memorising a tasting note. To study to your strength: build in physical activity, draw it, model it, walk it; use real objects and real examples; take movement breaks (that one helps everyone); and turn theory into practice at every chance, a tasting, a visit, a hands-on experiment. This could also mean that you probably want to work a period in a winery or wine cellar to really understand what all the work is about when it comes to pruning, harvest selection, winemaking techniques. Do your thing! I like to be in the vineyards (well who doesn't right?) but collect soil samples and rocks to fully understand its benefits (or downsides).
The Reading and Writing Learner
Reading and writing learners thrive in the most traditional setup of all: text in, text out. You are comfortable with books, articles and handouts, and you process information best by writing it, notes, summaries, the lot. You tend to be detail-oriented and take meticulous notes, and rewriting something in your own words is what truly beds it in. To study to your strength: write full notes and summaries, put concepts into your own words rather than copying them, treat books and written material as your main source, and use essay-style writing or a study journal to think on the page.
So Which One Are You?
By now you have probably spotted yourself in one or two of those and maybe wondered which one you really are. For me, I really hate listening to a podcast and doing anything solely on my hearing; for me visual learning and writing is the ultimate combination that makes me remember everything. Here is the honest answer: it matters less than the internet would have you believe. Most of us use a combination of all four depending on the subject, the day and the mood, and while it is genuinely useful to know your lean, I want to be straight with you about one thing. The popular version of learning styles, the one that says you must be taught in your style, or you will not learn, does not hold up. When researchers have actually tested whether matching lessons to a person's supposed style improves results, the evidence just is not there. So do not use your type as an excuse ("I am a visual learner, I cannot do reading"), and do not let it box you in. Use it as a menu: a set of options to try, keeping what works and binning what does not.
For what it is worth, here is mine. I am first and foremost a reading and writing type. I love to delve into a book and make detailed notes, and I will happily write essays to think something through. But not without the highlighters of a visual learner, and the occasional video to help me picture the theory. I do not do podcasts, or anything by ear alone; it is too abstract for me and my mind drifts off too easily. The odd hands-on approach helps, but mostly I like the classic style of studying. The real shift for me was learning to appreciate my own style and stopping listening to everyone else about what technique I should be using. This is what works best for me and finding that out is worth more than any label.
Techniques Worth Stealing, Whatever Your Type
Whichever way you lean, the best study toolkit borrows from all four types. Some techniques are practically type-specific: colour coding and mind mapping for the visual crowd, teaching others and mnemonics for the auditory, hands-on practice problems for the kinaesthetic, summarising and active note-taking for the readers and writers, and I have written about most of them in their own right on the blog. But a handful earn their place for every single learner, no matter the lean. These four are the ones I would not study without.
- Spaced repetition. Instead of cramming everything into one night, spread your sessions out and revisit material at widening intervals. It is the single most powerful study habit there is, and it works regardless of how you like to take information in.
- The Pomodoro technique. Work in focused intervals, twenty-five minutes on then a short break, and repeat. You protect your concentration and dodge burnout, and it suits every type equally well.
- Use technology wisely. The right apps do real work: Brainscape for flashcards, OneNote or Evernote for notes, a focus timer to guard your sessions. Just be honest about which apps help you study and which quietly steal the hour.
- Look after the body doing the learning. Sleep, decent food and some movements are not separate from studying; they are part of it. A rested brain remembers and a wrung-out one does not, whatever your learning style.
Knowing your learning type will not do the studying for you, and it was never meant to. What it gives you is a starting point: a sense of why some methods click and others slide straight off, and permission to stop forcing yourself through techniques built for someone else's brain. Find your lean, borrow freely from the other three, and treat the whole thing as a menu you get to build from, not a box you are stuck in. That is when studying stops feeling like a fight and starts feeling like yours.
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What are the four types of learners?
The four learning styles in the VARK model are visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, and reading and writing. Visual learners take in information best through diagrams, colour and charts; auditory learners through discussion and recordings; kinaesthetic learners through hands-on practice; and reading and writing learners through text, notes and summaries. Almost nobody is a pure single type, so most people are a blend of at least two.
How do I know what kind of learner I am?
Notice which study methods make information stick with the least effort. If you reach for diagrams and colour, you lean visual; if you learn by talking things through or listening, you lean auditory; if you only understand something once your hands are on it, you lean kinaesthetic; and if you process best by writing notes and summaries, you lean reading and writing. Most people recognise themselves in two of these rather than just one.
Do learning styles actually work?
The idea that you learn better when lessons are matched to your style, sometimes called the meshing hypothesis, is not supported by the research. When studies have tested whether teaching to a person's supposed style improves results, the evidence is not there. Knowing your lean is still useful as a starting point for choosing methods to try, but it should not be used as an excuse to avoid techniques that feel less natural.
What is the best way to study for a wine exam like the WSET Diploma?
There is no single best method, but a few habits help every learner: spaced repetition, which means revisiting material at widening intervals rather than cramming, the Pomodoro technique for focused work, sensible use of study apps, and looking after your sleep and diet. On top of that, borrow the techniques that suit your lean, such as colour coding and mind maps for visual learners or written summaries for reading and writing types.
Can you be more than one type of learner?
Yes. Most people are a blend of at least two learning styles, and which one dominates can shift with the subject, the day and even your mood. Treating your type as a menu rather than a fixed label lets you pull the strongest technique for whatever you are studying, instead of forcing everything through one channel.
Resources
- EBSCO Research Starters, "VARK Model", accessed 31 July 2026: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/education/vark-model
- National Library of Medicine, "The Modality-Specific Learning Style Hypothesis: A Mini-Review", 3 September 2018, accessed 31 July 2026: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6113575/
Margot van Lieshout
Wine marketeer, sales expert with over 20 years in the trade, public speaker and international wine judge. Thousands of wines scored from Steiermark to Ningxia, and a trade she knows from the inside out. Wine with Margot is where she helps wine brands tell the stories that sell them.
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