How to make a mind map for revision (and when not to)

1. Turn a blank page sideways and write the topic in the middle.
2. Add a branch for each main idea (aim for 4 to 7).
3. Add smaller branches for details: definitions, examples, dates, equations.
4. Use one or two keywords per branch, not sentences.
5. Use colour for each main branch and small drawings for key ideas.
6. Draw links between branches that connect.

The evidence is mixed. In a small study with medical students, those taught to use mind maps recalled more facts a week later than students using their usual methods, though they reported lower motivation (Farrand et al., 2002).

But in a larger experiment, students who practised recalling a text did better a week later than students who built a concept map while reading it, even on a test that asked them to draw a concept map (Karpicke and Blunt, 2011). The lesson: building a map with your notes open is useful, but retrieving the information is what makes it stick.

• Redraw from memory: close your notes, redraw the map, then check and fill gaps in a different colour. It's blurting in visual form.
• Cover a branch: hide one branch and explain it aloud.
• Make questions: turn each branch into flashcards with our flashcard maker.

• Topics with lots of connections: themes in a novel, causes of an event, a body system.
• Planning essays: a quick map of points and evidence before writing.
• Overviews: one map per unit to see the whole picture before an exam.

They work less well for step-by-step methods, such as solving equations, where worked examples and practice questions matter more.

• Spending an hour on colours and drawings, and five minutes on content.
• Writing sentences, which turns the map into notes.
• Only making maps, never testing yourself on them.
• Cramming a whole subject onto one page.

Put Causes of WW1 in the centre. Add four main branches for the common MAIN summary: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism and Nationalism, plus a fifth for the trigger, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. On each branch, add two or three keywords and one piece of evidence, such as the naval race between Britain and Germany under Militarism. Then draw links: the alliance system turned a regional crisis into a wider war. Finally, cover it and redraw it from memory.