Digital learning is rapidly replacing traditional in-person classes. However, despite the seismic shift in teaching methods, college entry requirements remain unchanged, posing a serious question for college prep organizers: Which virtual solutions are needed to equip students with the skills they require to succeed?
In this article, we look at how collaborative mind mapping can help educators prepare their students for college entry, including tips for SAT and ACT test prep. By acquiring essential study skills, your students will take a huge step towards that coveted acceptance letter and the campuses of their dreams.
Preparation is Key
Effective college prep helps students develop study skills, prepare for standardized tests and learn how to write in an elegant, appropriate style. As a valuable study aid for both students and educators, collaborative online mind mapping helps test prep organizers provide expert support to prospective college entrants. With proven benefits for creativity, knowledge retention and organization, mind mapping not only keeps your students engaged in your college prep course but also equips them with the skills needed to succeed in higher education and beyond.
Stay On Track
To prepare your students optimally for college entry, your syllabus should reflect the current remote learning environment. Instead of bland pages in a textbook or folder, online mind mapping tools like MindMeister can help create an easily-navigable atlas of resources.
By creating a mind map syllabus, you can show the relationships between the different parts of your course. Especially when it comes to revision, locating essay topics, citation requirements and specifications, mind mapping your syllabus is fast, fun and simple.
Creating a syllabus mind map is easy: add your course title as the central topic, then create branches for each section you plan to cover. You can even attach photos, videos and links to external documents where required or allow students to add comments when things are unclear.
Take Collaborative Notes
To best prepare your students for their dream school, ensuring full engagement is vital. Through collaboration on mind maps, your students can push each other to succeed, fill gaps in subject comprehension and build on existing knowledge. A course map will also help guide your lesson as you move through your subject material.
In virtual classroom sessions, share your subject-specific mind map and start a live brainstorming session by asking students to add topics, sub-topics and connections based on the day’s lesson. Once the session ends, ask students to continue building branches as they read related study materials. Work through any misconceptions or difficult concepts in your next virtual class time. In no time, your students will have a detailed account of each lesson they can use to connect to their study mind maps.
Study Smarter
While preparing for college and when they get there, your students need healthy study habits to succeed. Mind mapping can help educators get students on the right path: it’s a proven study method that improves comprehension and recall through spatial memory. By taking or transferring notes into mind maps, students need less time to prepare for exams. They can then develop study plans with task management tools and ultimately ace their SAT or ACT.
In your college prep course, create a mind map study guide a few weeks before your next standardized test practice exam. Students can then link their own maps into the guide, collating all relevant exam materials into a central repository. You may want to review the map with your student in a video call and clarify anything that remains unclear. Not only will this help with entrance exams, but it also nurtures key skills for college and beyond.
Write Better
Academic writing requires practice and lots of it. Mind maps act as a powerful writing aid, helping writers collect resources, citations and thoughts in one place. While the SAT will drop the essay section from June 2021 onwards, and the ACT’s writing test remains optional, students need to know how to write a fully-formed argument by the time they reach college.
Teach students how to outline writing assignments using a five-paragraph essay template like the one above. As your students examine essay prompts, have them build their outline. Once finished, provide feedback directly on topics and request essay links be included there. Students can apply these lessons using pen and paper should they choose to take the writing portions of standardized tests.
With vision, creativity and purpose, mind mapping can help you prepare your students for college entry exams, even in challenging circumstances. Better yet, you can continue using your mind maps once you return to in-person instruction for presentations, brainstorms and more.
