3 Levels of Mind Maps Every Student MUST Master
Summary
TLDRThis video script explores the art of mind mapping as a powerful learning technique, breaking it down into three skill levels. Level one introduces nonlinear thinking, while level two organizes information with clearer structure and flow. Level three represents mastery, with intuitive groupings and deliberate connections. The script emphasizes the importance of higher-order thinking for deep understanding and retention, and suggests that even linear note-taking can yield high-level results if done with critical thought.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Mind mapping is a skill that can be broken down into three levels of proficiency, with Level Three being the most powerful for learning efficiency.
- 📈 Level Three mind maps enhance memory, processing speed, and the ability to think deeply about content, which contributed to the speaker's success in running a business and achieving academic excellence.
- 🔍 To improve mind mapping skills, one must first identify the level of their current mind maps and understand the differences between the levels.
- 📝 Level One mind maps are characterized by non-linearity and connections between ideas but often lack the clarity and structure of higher levels.
- 📑 Level Zero note taking is very linear, wordy, and superficial, lacking depth and effective learning engagement.
- 🛠️ The transition from Level Zero to Level One involves using arrows and lines to represent information, reducing wordiness, and becoming comfortable with spatial representation.
- 🔄 Level Two mind maps show a clear flow and structure, with information grouped and connected in a coherent manner, indicating a higher level of thinking.
- 🤔 The processes to move from Level One to Level Two include grouping similar ideas, considering the flow of information, and intentionally creating structure.
- 🏆 Level Three mind maps are distinguished by clear structure and flow, emphasis on key groups and connections, and intuitive, memorable groupings.
- 📚 Higher order thinking is crucial for effective learning, memory, and application of knowledge, and is a key component of Level Two and Three mind mapping.
- 🚀 Consistently creating Level Three mind maps is rare and can significantly improve performance, memory, and understanding, potentially placing one in the top 10% of learners.
- 🎓 Even without mind maps, high-performing learners engage in the same higher order thinking processes, demonstrating that the method of note-taking is less important than the mental engagement with the material.
Q & A
What are the three levels of skill in mind mapping as described in the script?
-The three levels of skill in mind mapping are Level One, Level Two, and Level Three. Level One is characterized by non-linearity of ideas and connections between them but often appears messy. Level Two involves grouping related information with a clearer flow or structure. Level Three is where the structure and flow are much clearer, with emphasis on certain groups and arrows, and more intuitive groupings.
How does the script define Level Zero note taking?
-Level Zero note taking is described as very linear, wordy, superficial, and time-consuming without significantly aiding retention or depth of understanding. It lacks the spatial representation and connections between ideas that are present in mind mapping.
What are the key processes that help transition from Level Zero to Level One in mind mapping?
-The key processes include using arrows and lines to represent information instead of full sentences, reducing wordiness by summarizing, and becoming comfortable with representing information spatially without relying heavily on words.
What are the main characteristics of a Level One mind map?
-A Level One mind map has non-linearity of ideas and attempts to make connections between these ideas with lines and arrows. However, it often appears messy and does not provide strong benefits from mind mapping.
How does the script differentiate between Level One and Level Two mind maps?
-Level Two mind maps have a clearer flow or structure with groups of related information. The connections are cleaner, and there is an intentional creation of structure, unlike Level One, which is messier and still in the process of learning non-linear organization.
What cognitive process is emphasized in the script as crucial for a modern-day learner?
-Higher order thinking skills are emphasized as crucial for a modern-day learner, which involves engaging in deeper understanding, memory improvement, and the ability to apply knowledge effectively.
What is the main difference between Level Two and Level Three mind maps?
-The main difference is the clarity of structure and flow, the emphasis on certain groups and relationships, and the intuitiveness of the groupings in Level Three mind maps. Level Three also involves a more deliberate and intentional arrangement of information.
How does the script describe the process of moving from Level Two to Level Three in mind mapping?
-The process involves improving the quality of connections and relationships, increasing the intuitiveness of the groups formed, and spending time to identify alternatives and make judgments on the best way to structure and arrange the information.
What is the significance of higher order thinking in the context of mind mapping?
-Higher order thinking is significant as it forces the brain to engage in deeper cognitive processes, which is essential for understanding, remembering, and applying learned information effectively.
How does the script relate mind mapping to the performance and results of a learner?
-The script suggests that the ability to create Level Three mind maps consistently is uncommon and can translate to top-tier performance, indicating that the type of thinking required for Level Three mind maps is common among top 1% or 2% learners.
What is the role of 'Brilliant' as mentioned in the script, and how does it relate to learning and mind mapping?
-Brilliant is a sponsor of the video and is described as a platform that offers interactive lessons on various subjects, promoting learning by doing, experimenting, and problem-solving. It aligns with the script's emphasis on higher order thinking and the application of knowledge, similar to the cognitive processes involved in advanced mind mapping.
Outlines
🧠 Mastering Mind Mapping for Efficient Learning
The speaker discusses the art of mind mapping, identifying three distinct levels of skill. Level three mind mapping is highlighted as a powerful learning technique, enhancing memory and processing speed. The speaker's personal experience with mind mapping contributed to their success in running a business and achieving academic excellence. The process of identifying mind map levels is introduced, followed by examples to distinguish between level one and level two maps. The main difference lies in the complexity and comprehensiveness of the map, with level three being the most effective for top-tier learners. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the levels and the processes to transition from one to another, starting with the basics of level zero note-taking and moving towards the more advanced levels.
🚲 Progressing Mind Mapping Skills from Level One to Two
This paragraph delves into the transition from level one to level two mind mapping, likening it to training wheels on a bicycle. Level two mind maps are characterized by organized groups of information with a clearer flow and structure. The speaker outlines the three key processes for advancing to level two: grouping similar ideas, considering the flow of information, and intentionally creating structure. The importance of higher order thinking is underscored, as it is crucial for understanding, remembering, and applying knowledge. The speaker contrasts level zero note-taking with level two mind mapping, demonstrating the cognitive engagement and benefits of the latter. The 'misinterpreted if' hypothesis is mentioned, which suggests that people often avoid higher order thinking due to its mental effort and discomfort.
📚 Demonstrating the Evolution of Mind Mapping Skills
The speaker provides a practical demonstration of how the same content is handled at different mind mapping levels. At level one, the process is messy and overwhelming with lines and arrows everywhere, which can be discouraging for students. In contrast, level two involves a more thoughtful approach, where the speaker actively structures information, groups related ideas, and creates a coherent flow. This higher level of engagement makes the information more memorable and enjoyable. The speaker also mentions the difficulty of achieving level three mind mapping, which requires over a decade of practice and understanding.
🌟 The Power of Level Three Mind Mapping
Level three mind mapping is introduced as the pinnacle of the skill, with clear structure, emphasis on important connections, and intuitive groupings. The speaker explains the processes involved in reaching this level, focusing on improving the quality of connections and relationships, and making deliberate choices in structuring information. A comparison is made between a level two and a level three map, showing how the latter is cleaner, more intuitive, and intentional. The speaker also touches on the rarity of achieving level three consistently, which can lead to top-tier performance and the importance of higher order thinking in learning.
✍️ The Advantages of Mind Mapping Over Linear Note-Taking
The speaker concludes by discussing the benefits of mind mapping over traditional linear note-taking, even for achieving level three results. They demonstrate a method of synthesizing information mentally and writing it down as an essay, which is time-consuming and less effective than mind mapping. Mind maps are praised for their simplicity, speed, and organization, making them superior for planning literature reviews and essays. The speaker also mentions a free newsletter for further learning strategies and concludes by inviting viewers to subscribe for more insights into mastering the art of learning.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mind Mapping
💡Level Three Mind Map
💡Level Zero Note Taking
💡Higher Order Thinking
💡Nonlinearity
💡Grouping
💡Intuitive Grouping
💡Structure and Flow
💡Connections and Relationships
💡Memory Improvement
Highlights
Mind mapping can be categorized into three distinct skill levels, with level three being the most powerful for learning efficiency.
Level three mind mapping improves memory, processing speed, and the ability to think deeply about content.
Level one mind mapping may be ineffective, and mastering level three can significantly boost confidence and productivity.
Identifying the skill level of a mind map is the first step to improving mind mapping abilities.
Level one mind maps are characterized by nonlinearity and connections between ideas but often lack depth.
Level zero note taking is very linear, wordy, and lacks depth, often leading to ineffective learning.
Transitioning from level zero to one involves using arrows and lines, reducing wordiness, and spatial representation.
Level two mind maps show improved structure and flow, with clearer grouping and connections between information.
Processes to advance from level one to two include grouping similar ideas, considering information flow, and creating intentional structure.
Higher order thinking is crucial for effective learning and is often avoided due to its mental effort.
Level three mind maps have a clearer structure, emphasized connections, and intuitive groupings for better memory retention.
Advancing to level three requires improving the quality of connections, intuitiveness of groupings, and intentional structuring.
Even without mind mapping, high-performing learners engage in the same higher order thinking processes.
Linear note-taking can achieve level three results if done with higher order thinking, but it's less efficient.
Mind maps are superior for planning and reviewing due to their simplicity, speed, and organization.
The presenter offers a free newsletter with key concepts to improve memory, understanding, and knowledge application.
Transcripts
over the last 10 years I reviewed
thousands of my maps while coaching
people to learn more efficiently and
across the thousands of my maps I've
reviewed I've noticed that mind mapping
can be broken down into three different
levels of skill when mind mapping is
done at a skill level of level three
it's legitimately one of the most
powerful learning techniques that you
can Master it improves your memory it
increases your processing speed it makes
it easier to think about more content
more deeply but when mind mapping is
done at level one it can be a complete
waste of time for me being able to do a
level three mind map every time is a big
part of what gave me the confidence to
run a business full-time while going
through medical school and then later uh
my full-time Masters for which I ranked
first in my year now the first step in
actually being able to level up your
mind mapping is to be able to look at a
mind map and identify what level it's at
once we can figure out the difference
between the different levels of mindmap
we can then focus on the processes that
help us Bridge each of these levels so
I'll show you some examples of each
level of my maps see if you can Spot the
Difference so these ones are level
[Music]
one right and then these ones here are
level two
these are some level
three now you might think that the main
difference is that a level three mind
map just looks simpler or more
comprehensive but it is so much more
than that and the difference between a
level one and a level three is probably
the difference that separates a top 30%
learner from a top 1% learner but before
we get into that let's take a deep dive
into level one so here's the example of
the level one mind map again now the
level one mind map has two important
characteristics the first thing is that
it has
nonlinearity of ideas so if you have a
look at this you can see that it's not
just going left to right down the page
uh all of these things it's trying to
represent the ideas spatially around the
page and second thing is that there are
connections between the ideas uh you can
see that they're trying to express these
connections with these lines and arrows
now the difference is actually a lot
more obvious when we go back a level to
what's even before level one which is
level zero note taking and level zero
note taking looks a little bit more like
this and these are actually my old notes
from like over 10 years ago and I can
tell you that the thousands of hours I
spent on writing notes like these were
ultimately a waste of time so at level
zero there are five characteristics that
you should definitely avoid firstly it's
very linear uh secondly it's usually
very wordy and thirdly it's pretty
superficial uh it doesn't go into the
content very deeply it doesn't really
look at how ideas are related to each
other because frankly trying to write
that all down through level zero linear
note taking would be completely
overwhelming there's often a lot of
highlighting and sometimes there's a lot
of annotating and at the end of the day
it is uselessly timec consuming in that
it takes a lot of time but it's not
really helping with our retention or our
depth of understanding so level one
really represents this first point where
someone's trying to break this old
linear mold but the important thing is
not to just recognize the
characteristics of each level is to know
what the process is that takes you from
Level zero to level one and there are
three key
processes that someone is engaging in to
go from Level zero to level one the
first process is that they're looking at
how they can use arrows and lines to
represent information instead of just
writing it out as full sentences so no
full
sentences the second thing is that we're
trying to cut down on how wordy it is
we're often doing a little bit more
summary
mizing and the third part is getting a
little bit more comfortable with just
representing information spatially and
without using
words when we follow these processes we
go from Level zero to level one now at
level one we're not really getting a
strong benefit from mind mapping the
real power of Mind mapping comes from
level two and level three and in fact
level one often looks pretty messy
however level one is not bad mind
mapping is a skill and like any other
skill there are levels to that skill and
you can't just skip a level level one is
necessary because it allows us to break
out from Level zero to then work towards
level two it's kind of like training
wheels on a bicycle and a lot of people
will say oh I gave mind mapping a go it
didn't really work for me but they
actually only reached level one and
you're right if you only reached level
one it's not really going to work for
you so let's have a look at level two
where you should see some benefit here's
an example of the level two mind maps
again and once we're at this level two
skill we should be feeling a lot more
comfortable with expressing information
nonlinearly and at level two there are
three characteristics to look out for
first of all we have groups of
information and these groups are related
to each other and as a result there is a
clearer flow or structure to the
information you can see these groups
being represented uh here in the brown
uh as well as the flow of information
with the arrows being a little bit
cleaner and if your mind map has these
characteristics it's probably at level
two and by the way let me know what
level you are in the comments so that I
can help cater my future videos to you
so now that we know what a level two
mind map looks like let's think about
what the process are that take us from
level one to level two there are again
three main processes that we want to
focus on here the first one is that
we're thinking a little bit more about
how ideas are similar or different to
each
other and by thinking about how similar
things are to each other this allows us
to put them into groups we're arranging
them by those similarities number two
we're now thinking about how the
information actually
flows and influences each
other we've created these groups we've
looked at how things might be related
and similar to each other and we're
thinking how do these ideas connect
together in a coherent structure which
leads to number three we're actually
thinking about
intentionally creating more of a
structure as opposed to for example just
drawing a bunch of lines and arrows
connecting things all over the place and
overall the the difference between level
one and level two the major difference
is that we're spending a lot more time
thinking about how we want to arrange
the information and organize it as
opposed to just getting used to
organizing it nonlinearly and by
thinking about how to organize the
information in level two and later also
in level three we're forcing our brain
to engage in that higher order thinking
which is one of the most important
cognitive processes that you can do to
understand remember and apply what you
learned properly in fact the oecd has
even come out with a statement saying
that higher order thinking skills is one
of the most crucial things that a
modernday learner needs to know to be
successful so what that means is that if
you are mindmapping and you're not
noticing improvements in your
understanding or your memory or your
ability to apply the information it
probably means means that you're not
engaging at that higher order of
thinking and that would be common
because most people tend to avoid higher
order thinking since it takes more
mental effort and it can feel
uncomfortable which basically means most
people are avoiding the type of thinking
that helps build stronger memory and
deeper understanding in the first place
this is famously called the
misinterpreted if it hypothesis which
I've talked about in lots of my other
videos and this is important because
there's essentially no point in using
mind mapping as a technique if we're not
engaging in the right type of thinking
and it's actually really easy to
demonstrate the difference between level
zero level one and level two so I'll
show you using this article on
metacognition which is just taken from
Wikipedia it could be from a textbook or
from lecture slides uh it doesn't really
matter this is just a demonstration so
at level zero let me show you what my
note taking would look like I'll type it
out for you so that you don't have to
struggle reading through my handwriting
so as I'm writing these notes all I'm
doing is I'm reading a sentence I'm
summarizing it a little I'm transcribing
it down honestly I may as well have just
used chat gbt or something to do this
because it takes no mental effort and my
brain is almost asleep uh no real
learning is happening in the
brain now there actually is a way to
still do linear notes while still
getting level three results uh and I'll
show you that one later okay so I'll
just end that demonstration there
because I'm losing brain Styles let me
do the same passage at level
one and so here as I'm writing I'm
mentally doing the same thing I'm
basically just reading a sentence I'm
summarizing it a little uh maybe a
little bit more concisely and then I'm
just writing it down and I'm basically
just looking to see if it's connected to
anything else really obviously and I'm
putting some lines and arrows
down as we are progressing you can see
it's starting to get a little messy and
honestly like it's already kind of
overwhelming in terms of just there's a
lot of lines and arrows going everywhere
um and this is usually when a lot of
students will say it's not working since
it might actually feel worse than just
linear NES which were at least easier to
read but anyway that was level one same
con content same stuff but done through
level one mind mapping and you can see
some similarities with the examples that
I showed you before so now let's do
level two exactly the same content again
now here there's a big difference in
thinking compared to before because
instead of just going sentence by
sentence and putting it down I'm
actually uh reading more I'm actually
thinking about it back and forth I'm
actively deciding how I want to
structure this information in a way that
makes sense and I'm also actively trying
to group related ideas together you can
see it's looking tidier it's there's
more groups it's a little bit easier to
follow and it's actually a lot more
engaging in fact it's actually even a
little bit fun and I can feel that the
information uh sticks in my head a lot
more easily while at level zero and then
level one I barely remember what I wrote
down uh also it's a little hard to see
from the video but the time I spent just
thinking about what to write before even
writing anything down in the first place
is a lot long longer so at level zero
and level one I'm I'm basically writing
something every 5 or 10 seconds I'm
pretty much writing Non-Stop and at
level two I'm thinking about things for
like you know 20 or 30 seconds or even
more before even writing it down because
I'm just trying to think about how I
want to arrange it that's actually um
one really good way to see if you're
thinking about things enough to learn
effectively it shouldn't really be
possible to think at level two depth
and also right constantly so that is
level two and now going from Level zero
to level two is probably enough to give
you a decent little grade bump of like
10 to 15% but level three is where you
start seeing some serious improvements
now before we go into what a level three
mind map looks like I just want to
preface by saying that mind mapping is a
complex skill it took me like over a
decade of trial and ER and reading
research to really Master it and I'm
glad that I did because I'm able to save
time for you uh with videos like these
but what about other skills that are not
my mapping brilliant question and
Brilliant is the answer brilliant is a
sponsor of today's video and it is way
you learn by doing you learn by
experimenting solving problems making
mistakes and learning from them they
have thousands of interactive lessons on
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crucial higher order thinking skills
that I mentioned earlier as opposed to
the normal kind of pointless memorizing
ation which is very lower order
brilliant has recently launched a bunch
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link now let's dive back into the level
three mind maps which is where the real
power of mind maps comes in here's an
example of mind maps at level three
again and there are three
characteristics that you need to know uh
at level three the first thing is that
the structure and flow is much clearer
you can clearly see uh where the
information is going throughout this map
number two there's more emphasis to some
groups and arrows over others for
example you can see that these arrows
are a little bit thicker compared to for
example these arrows that visually
indicates the importance of information
and relationships and this last one is
harder to notice but the groups
themselves are more intuitive and easier
to remember so if we kind of zoom in a
little bit here we can see that the
actual name of the groups that have been
used are not always the same terminology
that is taught for the topic they've
actually relabeled the group so it makes
more sense for them at an intuitive
level it's actually easier to understand
the difference between level two and
three by talking about the processes
that we need to engag in to go from
level two to level three now by the time
we're at a level three skill we're used
to writing nonlinear notes we're used to
thinking about how things are similar
we're used to grouping things together
we used to creating structures and flows
what we're focusing on with the process
at level three is the quality so we're
improving the quality of the connections
and relationships that we're forming
we're also increasing the quality and
when I say quality I'm talking about how
intuitive the groups that we're forming
are yeah sure we can connect this group
to this group we can connect these ideas
to these other ideas we can group these
things together sure but with which way
of grouping is actually the best for us
which makes the most sense which is the
most intuitive which feels like it's
going to be stickier in our memory which
means number three we have to spend time
to identify Alternatives and then make
an actual judgment on which one is the
best for example here's that little map
that I made before at level two and then
here is the exact same map with
essentially the ex same information but
just grouped and structured differently
so at level three I'm actually thinking
about these alternative ways of
structuring the information and
arranging them in a way that makes more
sense to me at level three our mind maps
are becoming cleaner more intuitive more
deliberate the lines and the arrows and
everything that I'm putting on there is
more intentional now for most people the
difference between level two and level
three uh may not seem like much after
all we're still just grouping and
organizing information but the
difference between level two and level
three in terms of how much it affects
your performance and results and memory
and depth of understanding is probably
more than the difference between going
from Level zero all the way through to
level two being able to create a level
three mind map consistently is very
uncommon and probably translates to a
roughly top 10% level of performance in
fact the type of thinking that you have
to do for a level three mind map is so
crucial that virtually any top 1 or 2%
learner is going to be thinking in this
way even if they're not using mind maps
as the technique mentally they're
engaging in those same higher order
thinking processes and patterns which is
why earlier I said that it is actually
possible to do level zero uh linear note
taking but still get level three types
of results and let me show you how so
just going back to my article on metac
cognition here I'm going to do the like
pseudo level three note taking with
linear notes uh here so as I do this
just notice how I'm spending a lot of
time reading and um and when I'm writing
I'm not actually just reading things and
writing things down I'm actually
thinking about it and synthesizing it
and I'm doing all of that higher order
thinking and grouping and thinking about
how things are related to each other I'm
doing that all mentally as I read and
then I'm writing down like my entire
synthesis and structures so it's almost
like a mini essay where I'm trying to
explain all the relationships and
nuances of the content that I've read
and this is basically how you're able to
get some people that are using what
seems like a pretty mediocre method of
note taking but they're getting great
results because mentally what's going on
is at a high level but there are two
specific reasons that you should not do
this first of all it's honestly just
much harder than doing the level three
mindmap because I'm having to do all the
thinking in my head and all the
processing I can't track my thoughts and
uh all the relationships that I'm
thinking of on the mindmap so it's much
much harder for me to actually create
the connections and organize my thoughts
being able to just literally write it
down and brainstorm the ideas as I go uh
is probably too two or even three times
faster and easier than trying to do it
all mentally and then just forcing it
back down into a linear set of notes
again this is actually also the reason
why you should use mind maps to plan uh
literature reviews and essays it's also
probably two or three times more time
consuming
overall not just when I'm writing the
notes but later when I go to review the
notes I'm forcing myself to have to read
through this entire thing all over again
again to extract the the meaning from it
whereas if I had just the Mind map I can
just glance at it to review the
structure in like seconds or minutes and
even though the Mind map looks simpler
it's actually the same types of
relationships and thoughts that as were
in the essay the essay is not a more
comprehensive set of notes at all in
fact the essay probably doesn't even
cover all of the relationships that I'd
be able to express in the mindmap the
level three mindmap is
incomparably simpler faster and more
organized this synthesized essay writing
thing that I just did you can use that
as a revision technique later instead
now if you found this video and you want
even more to help you master the Art and
Science of learning then I've got a free
Weekly Newsletter that I've created
where I've taken my decade of coaching
and distilled what really works into
bite-sized emails each email contains a
key concept to help you improve your
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ability to apply your knowledge as well
as a practical takeaway or a challenge
it's completely free and the concepts
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also included in one of those
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if you're interested I'll leave a link
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thank you so much for watching and I'll
see you in the next one
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