After paying thousands in tuition, you want to build the best studying strategy possible. But if you’re not sure how to do that, the prospect of tests and class discussions can be daunting.
What can you do to better understand your material? How can you improve your focus?
With a study group, you can indeed experience many benefits that reflect on your grade. But you’ll also enjoy many advantages that prepare you for the rest of adulthood.
So keep reading to learn more. Below, we’ll cover eight benefits of group study that you’ll enjoy until you grab your diploma onstage!
1. Different Ideas to the Table
This point is more relevant if you’re all studying similar material. But a key benefit of group studying is your ability to listen to different people’s ideas. Doing so may flesh out your own ability to connect key concepts in ways that help you further understand and/or innovate the material.
Even a close-knit group of 3-4 people can elevate your understanding to a significant degree. Or everyone’s strengths can help the group synthesize the concepts to make up for any potential conceptual blind spots.
But even a group of different majors taking different classes can help each other out. Your study mates might help you think of your class’s content in a way that isn’t anchored by the method it’s taught in. This can help you bring something new to your next class discussion instead of only assimilating to it.
2. Social Cohesion
The benefits of group study sessions are beyond educational. Truth is, forming a study group is a great way for you to meet new friends! You might end up meeting some of your closest buddies through this study group.
This is true even if you joined or formed a study group only to study the material. If you can’t deny the chemistry between you and someone else, then why fight it? You and whoever you pal up with can also grab a coffee before and after the study session, giving you another positive incentive to show up.
Freshmen will find this benefit especially useful. It can be very difficult for students in their first year to find friends, especially if they’re not very social. But everyone needs to study, and being part of a study group can help you both build a social network and excel at your class’s content.
3. Accountability
Studying alone definitely has a time and place. Sometimes, your schedule won’t match up with anyone else’s or you might want to brush up on your vocabulary while in bed. But one great benefit of having a study group is its ability to keep you accountable.
Of course, this can be a dangerous benefit to bank on. You’ll want to carefully curate your group to have study mates that are dedicated to their studies. Otherwise, you’ll thwart accountability and be surrounded by distractions that wouldn’t be there if you were alone.
But if you do have great study buddies, then you’re on your way to building good study habits. Even if no one actively chastizes you, you’ll feel pressured to keep up with others’ studying rhythm by being diligent yourself.
And by keeping yourself accountable, you’ll also keep others accountable too. Your study group will create a natural environment of productivity that will reflect positively on everyone’s grades!
4. New Study Skills
Once again, you can still learn a lot from people that aren’t learning the exact same material as you are. That’s because other people might have study habits that you can learn from. It can seem like some people are born to succeed in their studies, but their studying strategy most likely contributes hugely to their success.
Maybe it’s the way they think about the material and connect its concepts. Or maybe they know how to organize their thoughts really well on paper, which helps them parse through complex content into accessible bite-sized pieces.
Either way, you can all strengthen each others’ studying weaknesses and even hone in better study strategies for the long run. This way, you’ll continually strengthen your ability to study. Doing so will help you progress as your material does, which is important if you always want to do the best you can.
5. Consistent Studying Time
When you’re always studying by yourself, you also have a lot of independence when it comes to setting your own schedule. But if you’re easily distracted or prone to canceling your self-study dates, then you might not want to exercise that independence.
Instead, regular study dates will keep you on track. Even if you don’t study any other day (though we highly suggest you do), you’ll be able to on your allotted study group dates. Knowing that your study buddies are waiting for you will also encourage you to get out of bed and into the library.
Once this becomes a habit, you won’t find getting up to study a chore at all. Especially if it means doubling your chances of catching up with good friends. This diligence can even carry over to your personal studying sessions, normalizing your study dates and helping them not feel like a chore.
6. Bearable Late-Night Study Sessions
We’ll preface this by saying that late-night study sessions are nothing to glorify and seek after. Every student should seek to manage their workload and time the best they can to avoid burnout, fatigue, and more. Doing so can help you manage an overall great health profile that helps you study better than if you did so under more extreme conditions.
However, late-night study dates are still very common. The pressure to take on internships, research projects, jobs, and much more might thwart the likelihood of studying at reasonable times. Luckily, being in a study group can help these late-night sessions be much more bearable and less stressful.
That’s because being with friends who are in the same boat as you can help build a crucial sense of morale. This can energize you as you study those last bits of material. Being with friends who are awake at the same hours as you can alleviate the burdens of those late hours.
So if you find yourself studying at late hours during midterms week, ask your study group if they’d like to join. Doing so can help the more stressful parts of earning that A become much more tolerable.
7. Teamwork Practice
You can’t avoid teamwork and group requirements forever. Even if you’re a bit of a lone wolf, you’ll want to reap the social benefit of study groups at least for the sake of professionalism. Whether it’s speaking to clients or working in a corporate space, you need to learn how to work well with others.
Working in a group, even only for studying, is more than a way to get your papers done. It also helps you build communication skills that can help you when you work in work-oriented groups in the future. You’ll also have more practice sharing your ideas and listening to others share theirs.
Freelance work will require you to work and negotiate with clients. Working at a promising startup needs a huge amount of cooperation and communication. Creative fields necessitate lots of collaboration and social amiability to get a leg up in the industry.
All this will help you facilitate teamwork more easily. Although you may still prefer working alone, study groups can help you appreciate others’ valuable feedback and balance your skills to thrive in sociality too.
8. Schedule Regulation
Having set study dates won’t only help you within these study sessions. Although these sessions might be rescheduled or canceled on occasion, they’ll usually have dedicated spots in your weekly schedules. This can help you manage your time beyond study dates, which can tighten your overall time management skills.
It’s a good idea for any student to keep a calendar and/or planner to log all their appointments, especially if they have multiple responsibilities. But if nothing else will motivate you to do so, maybe weekly study dates will do that. Not only will they manage your study dates, but they’ll also give you time blocks to work around for your other appointments.
Of course, don’t pass up a good internship because it coincides with your study group. But these time blocks can help you understand what times are optimal when it comes to a part-time job or a meeting with a professor. Although these aspects may seem trivial, you’ll avoid scheduling conflicting appointments through a concerted effort to organize your time.
Benefits of Group Study to Earn That A!
The saying that there’s power in numbers applies to your academics. So if you’re trying to foster a studying routine that beefs up your chances of getting on the honors list, starting building your study group ASAP.
This guide is meant to explain some of the many benefits of group study. If it did, then check out the rest of our blog! We’ve got plenty of other posts for ambitious students such as you.
