Sometimes you just can’t understand a certain concept in your course but when you discuss it with a friend and he explains it to you, it just becomes so easy that you wonder what made it seem so difficult in the first place.

Well, there is some wisdom behind the words “Two heads are better than one”. Your friend may have understood the topic well and may have picked up some important points that you had not grasped, so when it was explained to you with the important concepts pointed out, you were able to get it easily.

This brings us to our topic today, group study. It is a study session with two or more people studying together, with each giving inputs, sharing their skills and resources. The members of this group have to be studying in the same grade, if not the same class or school, for it to be beneficial. This makes the topics and subjects under focus relevant to all and their goals too are similar.

the topics and subjects under focus relevant to all and their goals too are similar.

It is an accepted fact that by working in groups, people are able to accomplish more than when they are working alone and the same applies to studying. However, just like ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’, having too many people in a study group may be more distracting than beneficial.

Forming a study group is a good way to give and receive motivation and support from fellow students. Learning is shared during the discussion, with each student giving their input. This also helps to correct any misconception one of the participants may have about a certain topic and this helps to rectify their mistake.

The group study session can be undertaken to do a school project or to study for the exams, it is useful in both situations. For effective group study, it has to be done in the right way, with the right people, with full participation of all the members and must be for a common aim. Let us look at how you can also try this way of studying with friends and take full advantage of the experience.

The group size

The group size is very important in making the study session effective or ineffective. It is best to have around four to six people, not more as larger groups are more difficult to organise and each member will not have enough chance to participate or gain as much as intended.

Keeping the focus of all the members of a large group is also difficult and it can easily turn into more of a social interaction that is distracting to everyone involved.

The members

Who you study with is the most vital aspect of a useful group study session.

It must be made up of students who share the common goal of getting good grades. They must be focused on the task at hand and should also be focused in school, with their tasks completed, lectures noted down and some independent study done too.

The group may comprise all close friends, or some who are not directly known to a few. The different learning styles of the members can help others to benefit from their learning. It is advisable to have at least one person in the group who has some unique talent or knowledge that is useful for the subject you are going to study.

The meeting place

It can be in someone’s home or a quiet corner in your school, but a place where there are few distractions.

The duration

It should ideally be for not more than two to three hours as anything longer would make everyone tired and they will start discussing things other than studies. A shorter session too may not work as not everyone will be able to participate fully.

Set clear goals

Before meeting for the session, discuss what you want to achieve during the group study session and make sure that the goals are shared by everyone.

Be prepared

Once everyone is clear on this, then discuss how they plan to go about it so that all can come prepared accordingly, with some prior study done, plus decide what books and notes to bring.

Each group member should go through the lecture notes and textbooks so that the difficult and problematic parts are identified in advance and can be tackled without wasting time during the study session.

Even if one member is unprepared during the session, it will waste the time of everyone. But this is not to say that everyone has to read and learn everything beforehand, if that had to be the case then there would be no need for the group study. You are meeting to learn the things about a subject that are not clear to you and tough, but this should not mean that you leave all the learning for the session only.

Participate fully

Active participation from all members will bring maximum benefits as each person will contribute with what they know, which will mean revision and reinforcement for them. And if there are any errors in understanding a concept, that will also come out during the discussion and can be easily corrected by others.

Everyone’s a teacher

When you teach a concept, you are not only helping the other group members, but are also reinforcing your own knowledge. So when studying in a group, if you have learnt something, the best way to retain it is to tell or teach that concept/lesson to others.

Sharing talents

Everyone has different strengths and talents, when studying in a group, everyone gets the benefit of learning from the individual strengths and knowledge of others.

If one person is good in something, say algebra, he or she can help others to understand it better and he or she can pick up other aspects of subjects that the rest are better at. But the key to making the most this way is through sharing, so don’t hold back what you know.

Support system

Studies are stressful, so reaching out to others through a study group is beneficial in giving and receiving support and motivation. And this support will extend to the school where during classes the members of the study group will keep supporting each other.

So in case one member of the group is sick or has missed a class, another student in the group can help him with the lectures and make him cover up what he had missed.

Getting more done

When preparing for exams, especially final exams, there is always a lot of course and material to be covered. It is a tough task, but when studying in a group, individual members of the group can be assigned different topics to study, research and make notes of and share with others.

This way more topics and subjects can be covered in a shorter time.

Make learning fun!

Studying in a group can make learning more enjoyable. When there are discussions, the atmosphere livens up and studying for long doesn’t become a drag.

Sitting alone can seem monotonous and dull, so get together with like-minded fellow students and share the learning experience and make it more fruitful and fun!

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 6th, 2015