The Power of Study Groups
Working Together Helps Everyone
You may have noticed that when you’re explaining something you've learned to a friend, you begin to understand it better yourself. This happens because, when you explain an idea, you need to think more deeply about it.
The same principle makes study groups useful. Studying with others in a small group is helpful because you:
- Think out loud.
- Share ideas.
- Learn from one another.
In an effective study group, you and other students hash out lesson materials together — explaining concepts, arguing about them, figuring out why one person's answer differs from another's — and in the process, you most likely learn more than you would have studying by yourself.
The Benefits of Study Groups
Group study offers other advantages in addition to gaining a deeper understanding of class material. These include the opportunity to:
Reinforce note-taking. If your AP® Biology notes are unclear, you can ask a member of your study group to help you fill the gaps.
Share talents. Each person brings different strengths, such as organizational skills, the ability to stick to a task or a capacity for memorization.
Cover more ground. Group members may be able to solve a calculus problem together that none would have solved alone.
Benefit from a support system. Members often have common goals, such as good grades. Each person’s work affects the other members, which results in making members supportive of one another.
Socialize. It's more fun to study with others; the give-and-take makes it more interesting. And because it's more fun, you spend more time studying!
Guidelines for Getting a Group Together
Here are some guidelines for creating and running a study group:
How many? Create a group of four to six people. In a larger group, it's easy for someone to get left out and smaller groups can too easily get off track.
Who? Pick classmates who seem to share your interest in doing well academically. Look for people who stay alert in class, take notes, ask questions and respond to the teacher's questions. Include someone who understands the material better than you and can explain the concepts and someone who doesn’t understand it as well, to whom you can explain the material.
Where? Hold study group sessions in a place that is free of distractions and that has room to spread out books and notes.
How long? Meet for no more than two to three hours at a time. Having a time limit helps the group focus. If you know you only have an hour, you're more likely to stay on task.
When? Try to meet regularly, on the same day and time each week. Treating the study session as you would other activities helps you to keep to a schedule and ensures that everyone attends.
Getting the Most Out of a Session
Here are some tips to help your group get the most out of each study session:
- Decide what you’re going to do in advance.
- Prepare for the session, so you can make the most of your time together.
- Take turns teaching, to reinforce your own knowledge.
- Stick to the session topic.
By supplementing your individual study with a study group, you can reinforce what you've learned, deepen your understanding of complex concepts, and maybe even make a few new friends. Whoever said learning can't be fun?
