Are study groups in college worth it?
Depending on the person, whether they like small or large groups, maybe even to be by themselves, is making a study group going to make it easier for our college years? Might it just scramble things up and just add more taken time on your schedule? #collegelife
4 answers
Jennifer’s Answer
In my opinion, the benefits for a study group go beyond the initial goal of passing a quiz or exam.
There are the benefits of tackling a test, sure, but you also have the opportunity to meet people and make friends. People who can share notes and perspectives. Bounce ideas off of and prepare arguements with.
Additionally, although you may not think of them this way now, study groups are the work groups in your future. Being able to get along with others to collaborate and meet deadlines is quintessential to the workplace.
Each person will need to find what works best, but typically 4-6 people is a good number and meeting once a week generally can tackle the tasks at hand. If you see it as a burden, it will be. Hopefully, however, you can see it as a great opportunity - for it definitely could be!
Happy Studying -
collegelife studying
Katie’s Answer
Hi Keziah - I think that study groups in college can be very beneficial. My suggestion is to seek to be in a study group for the subjects that are the most challenging for you. When I was in college, I joined a study group for one of my accounting classes. It helped me learn the material much more thoroughly than if I were just reading the textbooks on my own. From hearing my classmates' questions, I realized that I had more questions as well, and this helped me learn the subject matter on a deeper level. I joined a group by just asking if others in my class wanted to study and bounce ideas off each other.
Good luck studying!
Katie’s Answer
Hi Keziah!
I completely agree with what Jennifer said above. I was involved in many study groups throughout college and thought they were extremely helpful and definitely helped me improve my grades. Given that though, it truly depends on your study style. Some people do work better studying by themselves and others in groups. What I found to work best for me was to study independently starting a few days/week or however long before the test. During this time I would make study guides of the chapters and gather my thoughts. The last few days before an exam I would meet up with my study group and we would talk through all of our notes and the chapters that were going to be on the test. I thought this was helpful in that it helped me to recognize what areas I missed, other perspectives on the information and overall helped me to gain a better understanding. By talking through it we resolved any misconceptions or misunderstandings and through the debates really started to understand the concepts. For me there were parts of chapters that I wouldn't understand that my study group would teach me from their perspective and vice versa. When you actually walk someone through information, you actually learn it better yourself.
I also agree with Jennifer's comments on the social aspect. The people in my study group became some of my best friends and even now we work in the same industry and still message each other questions that come up on the job.
Hope this helps!
