Berita Kampus

Studying Smart – The Tony Buzan Way at TAR College

Summarising a 600-page book in a single picture on a single page while still be able to remember all the details of the book is an impossible feat. But the world’s brain and memory guru Mr Tony Buzan has made such a feat possible, not just for one person, but for anyone and everyone who cares to learn the method of memory recall that Mr Tony Buzan has invented: the Mind-Map®.

Tony Buzan autographing his book with
images and multiple colours.

About 1400 participants who attended the public talk “Studying Smart—The Tony Buzan Way” were given a glimpse into just such a possibility by none other than Mr Buzan himself. The talk which was held at the College Hall in TAR College Main Campus, was jointly organised by the Centre for Continuing Professional Education with Malaysia Mental Literacy Movement and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. TAR College Principal, Dr Tan Chik Heok, and Vice Principal, Mr Chan Kum Wing, together with other senior College officials, also attended the talk.

Mr Buzan began the talk with a 30-digit memory test, where most participants began to fail after the 7th digit. He then told the story of the 8-time World Memory Champion, Dominic O’Brien, who could recall 198 digits, and do it backward too, and who later moved on to remember a 400-digit number! This was the difference between those of us who normally used less than 1% of the brain (a piece of surprising information the participants picked up from Mr Buzan earlier in the talk) and those who had learnt to use the other 99%.

An example of mind-map given by Tony Buzan on “Planning to Write a Book”.

Another epiphany came to the participants when Mr Buzan asked what their primary languages were: Malay, Chinese, or English? The answer: none of the above. The brain thinks in IMAGES, with association. Mr Buzan talked about the importance of Gestalt (“whole picture” in German) and why we need to have the whole picture of things in mind before we even start to embark on anything.

Mr Buzan ended the talk with the proclamation that “There are no limits to what your brain can do, if you learn to use it well and study smart”. The talk was an epic journey through what the human brain can do and achieve, and it provided more than a ray of hope to those who thought they were average and mediocre. Now they can all say there are no limits!

Tony Buzan (right) showing the gift from Dr Tan.

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