The sad reality is that most of the time, people who show interest in self development in areas like study skills or memory training, are those who least need it. Unfortunately most school systems, either do not provide study skills classes, or introduce them too late. And for a person with learning difficulties this means they either need proactive parents that will provide them with materials and/or courses, or a bit of luck to stumble upon information by themselves.

Kids who have a hard time remembering things and do not do well in exams are not very likely to go off browsing the internet on their own in search for a solution. Usually they will not even realize that their problem is solvable! Ostracised, told they are stupid, they think, 'hey, that's the way I am' and give up on that part of their life. It is a shame, because most of them could benefit greatly from memory training, and a few handy tips on how to learn.

I don't mean good students do not deserve that kind of training. Only the fact is, if you are already getting top marks, maybe even without great effort, you will benefit by gaining time, not upping your performance. While for the students with learning difficulties this might mean going from failing/barely passing to a grade like B or even A.

Study skills should be a subject introduced at the very beginning of education. And it should not stop at that, classes should be continued over the years - with different methods introduced at the right age. The later these classes are taught, the more potentially good students have been lost, as without that knowledge they were not able to progress.

Why not teach mind mapping at the very beginning of primary school (or even earlier)? Children love to draw, and this technique does not even require reading and writing skills to begin with. Later on introduce note taking systems, might be an extension to mind mapping, or many other systems. Let the kids choose their favourite method. Teach them how to easily remember dates, big lists of items, etc. using many available mnemonics.

It makes me wonder if the reason for the situation not changing drastically despite the availability of these methods is money... Memory and study skills related training is a huge market. If we all got this information for free at school, maybe too much business would be lost for some people. Maybe there wouldn't be a need for thousands of books telling you practically the same thing in slightly (but not much) different words.