“Colour coding”, also called highlighting. Colour coding your study materials is a highly effective technique for organising and emphasising important information throughout your notes, textbooks, or study guides. These visual strategies can enhance your understanding and retention of the materials better. Don’t let someone tell you otherwise, it definitely works. It might not be for everyone, but that rather depends on what kind of learning style you have. Want to find out what type of learner you are, read more about it in here. This is why colour coding your work helps your memory retention when studying. Let me give you my most effective tips to implement this technique yourself. 

Grasp the Concept of Colour Coding

Colour coding involves assigning specific colours to different types of information or concepts within your study materials. The goal is to create a visual hierarchy that makes it easier to identify key points, relationships, and categories. This technique leverages the power of visual memory and association to aid your learning process. When you start reading, you have your post-it with your colour code right beside you and you can highlight the concepts throughout your materials based on the colours you have chosen for each topic. 

There are Benefits to Highlighting Your Materials

• Visual Organisation: Colour coding helps you to quickly identify and categorize information, making it easier to find what you need during study sessions.
• Emphasis on Key Points: Highlighting important concepts or facts draws your attention to critical information, helping you prioritise your focus, and you immediately know what to look for if you want to pinpoint a specific topic only.
• Improved Comprehension: The visual cues provided by colour coding can aid in understanding complex topics by showing connections and hierarchies within the material.
• Efficient Review: When you revisit your colour-coded materials, the use of colours makes it easier to review and revise key points, reducing the time spent on searching for information.
• Retrieval Practice: The act of colour coding itself can reinforce your memory, as it requires you to actively engage with the material and make decisions about what to emphasise.

Tips for Effective Highlighting

1. Create a Key: Before you start highlighting, establish a key that defines the meaning of each colour you'll use. For example, you might decide that orange will represent main ideas, while pink will signify supporting details. 

2. Value Consistency: Be consistent, stick to your chosen colour code, it is important to remember to use the same colours throughout your syllabus and your notes. This consistency will help you to reinforce your associations with certain colours and their specific topic over time. This is how your brain will remember which colour is linked to which subject. If you change them  halfway through, it loses its effect. It makes it easier to write/highlight your colour key on a post-it and stick that to your notes or in front of your study syllabus so you can remember. 

3. Avoid Highlighting Everything: Avoid over-highlighting or using too many colours, can overwhelm your materials and dilute its effectiveness. Overuse can diminish its impact and makes it harder to differentiate the content between essential and less important information. So, stick to an absolute maximum of five distinct colours with clear meanings. For example, when you are studying for your D3, I’ve made the following colour key for myself. 

4. Prioritise Key Information: Focus on highlighting information that is essential to your understanding of a certain topic, or the concepts that will be given on exams. There is no need to highlight materials that you already know. That is something that I used to do quite often, because I felt it was still important, but you have to keep reminding yourself that you only highlight, what you don’t know, or keep forgetting.  

5. Use Symbols or Annotations: You can even consider adding symbols or short annotations in the margins or alongside colour-coded sections to provide context or clarify the significance of the highlighted material. Say, a star sign for information that might give you extra credit when used in an exam answer, or a question mark when you might have a question about
that specific topic. 

6. Practice Active Retention and Engagement: Colour code or highlight after initial notetaking. Actively think about the significance of each element that you mark. This engagement will help you to better reinforce your understanding of the materials, and it is a second time studying the materials. We are often tempted to highlight our work, while taking notes during class or a webinar, however this can be counterproductive. Always colour code your notes once you have finished your notes, and do it without any interruptions, this way you’ll memorise it better later. 

7. Review Regularly: Periodically review your colour-coded materials to ensure the associations remain fresh in your memory.

8. Adapt to Your Preferences: Customise your colour coding system to align with your learning style and preferences. It should be a tool that supports your specific needs. I like to use the same colour highlighters throughout my study syllable, and use the same coloured post-it notes, so I can add additional questions into my syllable, that match my colour code for highlighting. 

9. Use Colour-Coding Two Ways: You can use the same colour key to highlight your reading materials and your summary /notes afterwards. This way, the code works its wonders both ways. 

Remember that colour coding supports your study process, it is not a substitute for comprehensive notetaking or thorough understanding. They are most effective when used in conjunction with active learning strategies like summarisation, active recall, and concept mapping.

Sources:

National Library of Medicine, “Color education: A study on methods of influence on memory”, November 8,  2022, - Accessed on March 7, 2024. 

Leverage, “Learn How Color-Coded Notes Make You A More Efficient Thinker”, January 18, 2024 - Accessed on March 7, 2024.

Study.Com, “5 Tips for Color-Coding Your Notes”, December 2019, - Accessed on March 7, 2024.