Introverts and Study Groups

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

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This is a question for the introverts here.

Every block all of the professors for our classes give a few study tips for their class and all of them without fail condemn "studying alone" and pretty much make you feel like it's not even a gamble worth taking, you will fail if you don't study in groups.

Honestly, I hate studying in groups. During my post-bacc, being close to 10 years older than all of my classmates group studying just wasn't going to happen so I studied alone. I was consistently the top scorer in my classes. Now, I'm sitting around the average in my med school class on the whole and I do try to group study. I don't feel like it's very productive, I don't really engage the material like I do when I study alone and I feel like any benefit that could come from other people pointing out errors in my thinking I can flesh out through doing gobs of practice problems (Physio, Biochem, Neuro, etc). I also hate group dynamics, in general, it can be such a **** show of emotions and odd sensibilities.

Has anyone else cut the group study cord and fly totally solo? One the one hand I feel like my professors *should* be right about this, as they've seen alot of students struggle, on the other hand, the current state of affairs is to cater to extroverts and their unrelenting need to do things in groups and be around people constantly. I don't even like going to school because of sitting in a room with 200 other people, I can't wait to come home and just be alone with my textbook and my thoughts.

Thoughts? Experiences?

 

[Pacna]

Introvert here, and I study alone 95% of the time.

It's nice to have 1 good friend there to ask questions of or whatnot.

WTF SS -.-

 

[Roxas]

I have yet to study in a group, but I'm also pretty below average.

Past experiences in ug showed me groups were largely inefficient, so I'm sticking with solo for now.

 

[Psai]

studying in a group is just asking for a distraction

 

[IncognitoGuy]

Yeah, it's too distracting to collectively study as a group. I do, however claim a table at the library with some of my classmates and we all study independently, but it also allows us to have people to talk to if we want to take a coffee break or grab food or whatever.

 

[sinombre]

I think the only time studying in a group has been beneficial for me has been after I've already studied the material. At that point other people can sometimes help you identify knowledge gaps, or present the information in a different way to help solidify what you're learning.

 

[acceptmeplease]

I study by myself, but I find that two days before a test or anatomy practical, I'll meet with a group and we will quiz each other.

Other people are better at finding areas where I lack, but "study groups" usually turn into margaritas and grilling steaks.

 

[gocelts]

Do what fits you. I'm an introvert and studying in a group of people simply terrifies me. My roommate is about as extroverted as it gets, and he ONLY studies in groups. We both get similar grades. My professors also tell us to study in groups - at the beginning of med school I thought I was doing something wrong, but nah it's just something they are probably told to say by the clowns in the office of academic enhancement.

 

[seminoma]

Introvert. Study alone (happily) 100% of the time. Top 10ish in my class. Come at me OPs professors.

The way I see it there are two advantages to study groups: social interaction and multiple opinions. Introverts obvi don't care about social. And I don't care about my classmates opinion about something when I could just Google it or ask the internet and read the explanation when it's convenient rather than wasting 10 minutes of my life waiting on a classmate to give me some round about explanation.

There are people I bounce ideas off of, but I don't study with them. It's like how I imagine things will be as a doctor. I'll ask the opinions of colleagues when I'm not sure, but I sure as hell won't be seeing all my patients with a team of attendings.

 

[MedWonk]

I don't study groups. I see what happens. Everything ends up taking twice as long to accomplish. I'll discuss some things with classmates to get a different perspective on what we're learning, but the vast majority of my studying is alone.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

As I suspected. Professors who haven't sat in a classroom in eons proposing a one-size-fits all solution to medical school success. My school is also a "mandatory attendance" place, luckily it's not enforced save for labs. I think I'll drop the wasted time in lecture hall every morning and the pointless group studying this block and see if my averages go up on this block of exams. I'll report back in a few weeks with my findings.

 

[darklabel]

I tried studying in a group in the beginning but most of the time it felt like a waste. I tried it in the beginning and my class had a mad dash for trying to find study groups as my school also emphasizes it. I felt anxious that I wasn't getting much out of it, but as the year went on I realized it wasn't very conducive. I'm middle of the road like you, but I hones't don't mind since it is medical school and we can't all be #1.

 

[deleted500612]

Studying solo is the only way to go. I tried studying in a group at the start of first year and although I *wanted* to like it, it just didn't work well for me. I ended up spending most of the time getting distracted and socializing, or getting drawn into discussions about content that I had already covered, which prevented me from making much headway on actual studying for myself. I also found that peer-run review sessions that the second years ran for the first years were not very time-effective for me either because a lot of the material was skimmed over too quickly for me to fully grasp it, or too slowly because I already knew it well and felt like I was just wasting time being their either way. By studying solo there are no distractions to socialize with friends and I can study the exact content I want to work on at the exact pace that I need to understand and retain it.

 

[xffan624]

This is a question for the introverts here.

Every block all of the professors for our classes give a few study tips for their class and all of them without fail condemn "studying alone" and pretty much make you feel like it's not even a gamble worth taking, you will fail if you don't study in groups.

Honestly, I hate studying in groups. During my post-bacc, being close to 10 years older than all of my classmates group studying just wasn't going to happen so I studied alone. I was consistently the top scorer in my classes. Now, I'm sitting around the average in my med school class on the whole and I do try to group study. I don't feel like it's very productive, I don't really engage the material like I do when I study alone and I feel like any benefit that could come from other people pointing out errors in my thinking I can flesh out through doing gobs of practice problems (Physio, Biochem, Neuro, etc). I also hate group dynamics, in general, it can be such a **** show of emotions and odd sensibilities.

Has anyone else cut the group study cord and fly totally solo? One the one hand I feel like my professors *should* be right about this, as they've seen alot of students struggle, on the other hand, the current state of affairs is to cater to extroverts and their unrelenting need to do things in groups and be around people constantly. I don't even like going to school because of sitting in a room with 200 other people, I can't wait to come home and just be alone with my textbook and my thoughts.

Thoughts? Experiences?

Yeah, our Dean said the same thing. I promptly ignored it. I do just fine by myself. Studying with people is just too distracting and time consuming.

 

[Medstart108]

This is a question for the introverts here.

Every block all of the professors for our classes give a few study tips for their class and all of them without fail condemn "studying alone" and pretty much make you feel like it's not even a gamble worth taking, you will fail if you don't study in groups.

Honestly, I hate studying in groups. During my post-bacc, being close to 10 years older than all of my classmates group studying just wasn't going to happen so I studied alone. I was consistently the top scorer in my classes. Now, I'm sitting around the average in my med school class on the whole and I do try to group study. I don't feel like it's very productive, I don't really engage the material like I do when I study alone and I feel like any benefit that could come from other people pointing out errors in my thinking I can flesh out through doing gobs of practice problems (Physio, Biochem, Neuro, etc). I also hate group dynamics, in general, it can be such a **** show of emotions and odd sensibilities.

Has anyone else cut the group study cord and fly totally solo? One the one hand I feel like my professors *should* be right about this, as they've seen alot of students struggle, on the other hand, the current state of affairs is to cater to extroverts and their unrelenting need to do things in groups and be around people constantly. I don't even like going to school because of sitting in a room with 200 other people, I can't wait to come home and just be alone with my textbook and my thoughts.

Thoughts? Experiences?

I think you do what you do best. Don't listen to professor's advice if it doesn't apply to you. I think most people study alone best, when I group study usually we get distracted.