It's the night before a final and you've given yourself the entire night to study for the exam.

You've been taking study breaks in healthy increments and you've kept your stress level at bay, so why do you feel like you aren't learning as much information as you should?

According to the book "How To Learn Anything Quickly," by Ricki Linksman, the answer could be you aren't studying according to the style that is most natural to you.

Linksman, who also is the director of the National Reading Diagnostics Institute, took the concept of right and left brain preferences and applied it to another aspect of learning information — whether you are a visual, auditory, tactile or kinesthetic learner.

This could mean writing out notes that you usually only skim over, or discussing things out loud with others although you usually study solo.

For kinesthetic learners, the trick might be to keep moving, writing on a board standing up instead of writing on a paper sitting down, or even role playing with others.

These techniques may seem like great lengths to some, Linksman said, but it works well for others.

"For people of that learning style, it's actually less work," Linksman said. "A teacher may feel the other learning styles are too hard, but it's actually easier (for people with that style) because that's how they already think and process things, it's their natural way of learning," Linksman said.

Although little research has been done, many schools have already used Linksman's advice for studying and teaching to every learning style.

Liberty University in Virginia, Kaplan Online University and the Chicago Bulls Reading and Learning Center already have integrated Linksman's methods.

The key to learning information faster, according to Linksman, begins with recognizing your learning style, or "superlink."

There are four learning styles: visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic. To that, add your brain hemisphere preference — whether you are right brained, left brained or both — and you have the eight superlinks that Linksman outlines in her book and on her Web site.

Students who are auditory learners, for example, learn best from lectures and discussions where they can talk about the material aloud.

They can apply this by studying in groups, accompanying discussion with the outlined notes.

Apparel and textile design junior Jessica Fishman said she's is a visual person.

"I have to see things, I can't listen to people when they read to me, I can't understand anything they are saying — I have to see it myself," she said.

But because she also has a left brain preference — which means she perceives information in a structured, sequential way — the switch from being a business to an interior design major has forced her to start using her right brain more.

"Even my teacher says I'm not loose enough in my drawings," she said. "I'm both (right brained and left brained) now, I have to be. In drawing, you have to be creative, innovative, you have to think of things on the spot.

"The left brain is very structured, and that's still how I draw."

Fishman said when she studies, she has to read things over and over, and uses different colors when she writes — the description Linksman gives when describing the best way for a visual learner.

So is everyone already studying the way that works best for them?

It's not likely, Linksman said. Though students who are already academically successful have probably found the studying methods that best suit their learning style, other students give up on subjects altogether because they aren't being taught in the right style, or don't study in the right style.

Tactile learners, for example, learn best when they use their hands, such as rewriting all their notes, according to the book.

Unlike visual learners, tactile learners use their sense of touch to internalize information, and might not even need to read the notes they write — the action of writing is what helps.

While the concept of different learning styles or having a left brain or right brain preference — with the lucky students having the ability to use more than one style — isn't a new concept, not all researchers agree that it makes a difference when applied to the way instructors teach or how students study.

William Schmidt, university distinguished professor of education and statistics, said there is research that suggests people learn differently, but there is next to no research that shows that studying or being taught to fit your preference and superlink makes a difference in grades.

"There is the basic notion that different parts of the brain dominate substantial (types) of activity, but with that, people have built a theory without data," said Schmidt, who studies math and science education around the world. "I think that so much of these types of things are driven by ideology or opinion and so little of it is driven by empirical evidence.

"So in the absence of that, I just think it's an unimportant distinction."

What really matters, Schmidt said, is that instructors present ideas cohesively, he said, adding that schools often fail at this.

"Topics are treated arbitrarily in placement, there's no real thought underneath presenting the materials, in showing them connected with other ideas, connecting them to a larger picture."

One of the few studies that has been done, however, was conducted at MSU.

"Keys to Reading Success" was a 2001 study that looked specifically at several Illinois school districts.

The schools adapted the approach of teaching to all of the superlinks, Linksman said, and the result was of students' reading ability increasing two to five grade levels.

Lansing Community College student Chris Simmons said he thinks taking Linksman's approach to studying would help people understand the material better.

"When I study, what I'll do is I'll read and write down notes, and I'll also apply it to real life," he said.

Simmons said his classes often take the left brain angle of teaching, and he doesn't think classes focus on the practical, real-world aspect of the material covered in class.

"That's the problem with the business college — it's just numbers," he said. "But business is really a day-to-day thing of dealing with people, you have to know what they want.

"Classes don't focus enough on that, they just tell you to read a book. You should be getting as much experience as you can. It doesn't have to be an internship, it's about what you do with two hours of class time."

Simmons said it's important to get experience where you deal with situations on the spot, not just practiced, memorized formulas.

Shane Lopez, an economics junior at University of Michigan, has noticed his classes taking a left-brain approach — focusing on details without connecting those details to the larger picture.

"Higher education has a problem with that," he said. "Getting students to step back and see how the details relate to bigger concepts."

Lopez might count himself lucky, however, because his left brain, audio-visual classes are easy for him to grasp.

"I think I'm more left brain," Lopez said. "I find it best to be in a large lecture and have the visual-audio experience."

HOW DO YOU LEARN?

A quiz on both brain hemisphere preference and learning style can be found in the book "How to Learn Anything Quickly," by Ricki Linksman, director of the National Reading Diagnostics Institute.

The following questions are included in the quiz, but your superlink won't be evident from just these questions.

Sample learning style questions:

• Days after you meet a new person, what do you remember the most about that person?

a. The person's face (visual)
b. The person's name (auditory)
c. How you felt being with the person, even though you may have forgotten their name or face (tactile)
d. What you and the person did together, even though you may have forgotten their name or face (kinesthetic)

• When you learn something new, which way do you need to learn it?

a. The instructor gives you something to read on paper, the board, in a presentation, shows you books, pictures, charts, maps or graphs. (visual)
b. The instructor explains things by talking and lecturing and allows you to discuss the topic and ask questions. (auditory)
c. The instructor lets you write or draw the information, use hands-on materials, type on a keyboard and make something with your hands. (tactile)
d. The instructor lets you do activities that allow you to partake in activities where you can move around — projects, simulations, role playing, or experiments. (kinesthetic)

Sample brain hemisphere questions:

1) Close your eyes and see red. What do you see?

a. The letters r-e-d (left brain)
b. The color red or a red object (right brain)

2) You like to:

a. Work step-by-step, in order, until you get to the end of a product (left brain)
b. See the whole picture or end product first and then go back and work the steps (right brain)

Source: "How to Learn Anything Quickly," by Ricki Linksman