how/when is studying as a GROUP better than studying SOLO?

[crooked castle]

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I have always been more efficient when studying by myself. If I study with a friend or group, we usually end up chatting a bit or its the same as studying alone (except that there is now a friend sitting next to me, which leads to occasional minor distractions).

Some people tell me they get a lot done in groups...but how is that so? If it's just asking each other to explain stuff, doesn't this lead to a short Q&A session? Is there a certain situation in which you find group study far more productive/helpful than solo studying?

I would like to give group study another shot. I think that would also be a good way to form friendships when I start dental school. But I just want to know how to make it worthwhile or I might just revert back to solo studying.

 

[Philippines03j]

Group studying only seems effective for me if I already have studied on my own. Yes, you could show up and piggy back off of the others but the point of a group study is to have everyone contribute. I usually like to divide the sections before we meet (ofcourse everyone will study all of them) and if there is a confusion in a certain area someone will be able to answer it or at least figure it out.

For me the point of a group study is to solidify what you already know and help those out with pieces that are not clear. It should not be the first time you looked at the material. For me these type of group studies have proven, not effective.

Choose group members wisely...👍

 

[LaughingGas]

its only effective if the group you study with are people you can trust with and won't give you false information..

 

[WhichRoom]

Personally, I can't study a lick in a group. I can only get anything done when im solo. I wouldn't worry too much if you can't focus in a group, just study alone if you get more done. I would however, study on my own all day and then maybe explain the workings of the kidney to a classmate just one on one for maybe 30 minutes and then go hide in the stacks of the library again. There are plenty of ways to meet friends, just see each human interaction as fodder which shows you what to say and not say, you will be fine, go deep in the library, you'll find yourself and your 'personal statement' in my experience.

 

[Vicviper]

I find that studying in a group helps when you're going over very difficult to understand topics. If you understand something that someone else doesn't, you can explain it to them, and then you'll understand it even better than you did before. If you don't understand something, they can explain it to you. Also, people can pick up on things that you don't think are important (a lot of studying in dental school is figuring out what in the mass of information given to you is actually of any importance), I don't know how many times I take a test, and was totally saved by someone else picking up some little point that I thought was worthless in our study group.

Also, it breaks up the monotony and boredom of studying alone. Granted, it's important to find people who you study well with - some people I've studied with may have had totally different styles that didn't work for me.

 

[yappy]

Group studying is great for getting those stupid lab report calculations/ data finished in a timely manner or hammering out a consensus on some really difficult topics (specific) but I dont find them very good for memorizing info or for problem solving classes either.

 

[agentdocta]

Group studying only seems effective for me if I already have studied on my own. Yes, you could show up and piggy back off of the others but the point of a group study is to have everyone contribute. I usually like to divide the sections before we meet (ofcourse everyone will study all of them) and if there is a confusion in a certain area someone will be able to answer it or at least figure it out.

For me the point of a group study is to solidify what you already know and help those out with pieces that are not clear. It should not be the first time you looked at the material. For me these type of group studies have proven, not effective.

Choose group members wisely...👍

Exactly. For me, I will only study in a group if I have sufficiently studied by myself. If not, group studying is just a distraction to me.

 

[In2Infinity]

If you know all the material for the test, like over 90% of it... and you have maybe 1 or 2 days left till the test, studying in a group could be great because you can ask eachother questions, get different opinions, check up if you missed anything important, and get another's perspective on a certain aspect of the material.

 

[TheScienceGuy1]

iStudying in a group is useful for. 1. Doing lab reports 2. Doing homework assignments 3. Getting a better understanding of material AFTER you have studied everything yourself.

For bio courses, me and my friends usually read the textbook and then make our own notes on PC. Then we send the notes we made to each other and compare. Getting other people's notes on the same material is very, very beneficial.

If you want to study in a group for exams, make sure you and your group partners have studied the material before hand and make sure the group size is small, because once you get over 6 people it basically turns into chaos.