Studying in Groups
Studying in Groups
Transcript
At the end of the day in a technical course you, and only you, will be held accountable for your knowledge of the material. When you take an exam you're going to have to demonstrate your understanding of the concepts and ideas and your ability to solve problems that apply those concepts. So making sure that you can do those things by yourself on your own is of crucial importance but getting yourself to a place where you have the comprehension to do those things can be really helped by working with other people in your class. Studying in a group is a great way to learn the material even better than you may have learned it by yourself even though eventually you're going to be held accountable for it in terms of your ability to solve problems on your own.
So, while studying in groups isn't the be-all end-all of performing well in technical courses it's a really powerful tool for helping you get where you need to be in terms of comprehension of the material. I really recommend studying in groups because it gives you an opportunity to hold each other accountable for your understanding before the exam ultimately holds you accountable and it's something that we do really naturally. Human beings are naturally gregarious and if you look at our non-human primate ancestors out in the wild they understand this implicitly.
Non-human primates hang out in groups and the reason for that is that they're safer and they're more secure in groups. A single animal can't see the food in front of them, the predator below them, and the predator above them at the same time but a group of animals can perceive all three of those things at once and act accordingly. The same is really true of people taking a course. It's difficult to perceive all of the things that there are to perceive, understand all of the things that there are to understand, and do all of the things that there are to do by yourself as effectively as possible.
So having other people who are in the game with you help you do that can be a really great strategy for achieving your goals. Here are a couple of things that study groups can do to really help you bolster your academic performance. The first is that they can direct and reinforce your learning. When you learn something on your own it's helpful but hearing that thing repeated to you helps reinforce your understanding.
The other thing is that different people often have different ways of communicating the same thing. And so hearing the same concept or same idea articulated in different ways helps concretize and fill out our understanding of a particular piece of material. Study groups can also hold you accountable for your own understanding. If you think you understand something in your own head, being forced to articulate your understanding to someone else is going to hold you accountable for the quality of understanding. If someone has a question they can ask it and you have to answer it. If someone disagrees, it forces you to articulate your position and justify your stance.
So working with other people, taking your intelligence and putting it next to the intelligence of another person can really clarify your own understanding and help make it more robust. Working in groups also forces you to demonstrate, in a detailed way, your mastery of the material. Again, on the exam you're not going to be explaining concepts to yourself you're going to explaining concepts to your professor. So getting practice explaining concepts and articulating your understanding to a party other than yourself is really helpful.
And finally I think the most useful thing about working in groups is it allows you to correct, clarify, and refine your thinking. The truth is this. We as human beings are not very good proof readers of our own understanding. That is to say we sometimes think we understand a little bit more than we do. So having other people around us who can help point out where the gaps in our understanding are can help us address those gaps much more quickly than we would be able to on our own.
To give a quick example, if you're writing an essay you can proofread that essay several times and you can make some changes and make it better but when another person comes to your essay with fresh eyes they often see things that you would have never seen. The same is true of your own understanding. Other people see your understanding and they see things about it that you would have never seen, they find gaps you would have never found, they see weaknesses that you can now address.
And this is a hugely helpful tool to help you really get where you wanna get in your technical courses. Remember, if you can teach your study group a concept and walk them through a problem that applies that concept and then answer their questions in a thoughtful way chances are you really understand the material and you have true insight into the concept. When you're forming a group think about the number of people you're working with. You don't want a group too large, usually two to six people is best. I often have my best experiences working with just another person. I didn't have to manage the logistics of a large group but I had someone else to help me refine my understanding.
But if you are gonna work with a larger group try not to make it too large. Too many cooks in the kitchen can create chaos. Welcome all levels of proficiency into your study group. Not everyone has to be a rockstar and not everyone has to be struggling with the material. In fact, a mix of these different varieties helps people really get to their goals faster because people who are having a little bit of trouble can learn from people who understand the material a little bit better and people who understand the material a little bit better benefit from helping teach and explain it to people who can use the help.
So having these different levels is really crucial to a successful study group. You wanna meet for two to three hours at a time, no longer than that or else you get off task, and try to meet at the same time each week. Make it a regular part of your study schedules. Avoid users, moochers, people who take from the study group and don't contribute. Everybody should be contributing and bringing something to the table. And finally try to work with people who have similar goals to you. If you're trying to do the course because you're just enjoying it and it's an elective versus having to take it, as a core course for your premedical requirements, these different students are going to approach the course in different ways and you wanna make sure you're working with people who have the same goals in mind. In terms of running your group make sure you set rules, guidelines, and expectations clearly at the outset.
Trying to set expectations once a dynamic is created is a lot harder than setting them up front. Also, understand what you're trying to accomplish. Having clear goals about what you're going to do not only weekly but also in the grand scheme of things helps clarify your purpose and helps you understand what you're really trying to do week in and week out.
Most importantly come prepared. Don't come to a study group cold, don't come to a study group not having done what the group expects you to do. One, it's not good citizenship. Two, you really miss out on the full benefits of a study group. If you come prepared you know what questions to ask, you know what help you need, you know what kind of clarification you'll benefit from. So make sure you come ready to make the most of your time. Communicate openly and honestly. I'll tell you this, the exam will be very honest about what you know and you don't know. So don't coddle each other. Don't sugarcoat things with one another.
Be clear, concise, and honest about where people are messing up, where their weaknesses are, and where they're getting it right. Being honest with each other before the exam is honest with you is gonna really help you prepare. Holding each other accountable in this way is crucial and making sure everyone feels held accountable and also respected is key to a successful study group.
And finally, try to assess your group's effectiveness as you move along. Sometimes we just become less effective over time and we need to make changes but we're not going to know that unless we think directly about what our effectiveness is and what we might tweak to be more effective moving forward. Remember, the test is going to test you eventually. Make sure to take the opportunity to test each other before the test tests you.
So, while studying in groups isn't the be-all end-all of performing well in technical courses it's a really powerful tool for helping you get where you need to be in terms of comprehension of the material. I really recommend studying in groups because it gives you an opportunity to hold each other accountable for your understanding before the exam ultimately holds you accountable and it's something that we do really naturally. Human beings are naturally gregarious and if you look at our non-human primate ancestors out in the wild they understand this implicitly.
Non-human primates hang out in groups and the reason for that is that they're safer and they're more secure in groups. A single animal can't see the food in front of them, the predator below them, and the predator above them at the same time but a group of animals can perceive all three of those things at once and act accordingly. The same is really true of people taking a course. It's difficult to perceive all of the things that there are to perceive, understand all of the things that there are to understand, and do all of the things that there are to do by yourself as effectively as possible.
So having other people who are in the game with you help you do that can be a really great strategy for achieving your goals. Here are a couple of things that study groups can do to really help you bolster your academic performance. The first is that they can direct and reinforce your learning. When you learn something on your own it's helpful but hearing that thing repeated to you helps reinforce your understanding.
The other thing is that different people often have different ways of communicating the same thing. And so hearing the same concept or same idea articulated in different ways helps concretize and fill out our understanding of a particular piece of material. Study groups can also hold you accountable for your own understanding. If you think you understand something in your own head, being forced to articulate your understanding to someone else is going to hold you accountable for the quality of understanding. If someone has a question they can ask it and you have to answer it. If someone disagrees, it forces you to articulate your position and justify your stance.
So working with other people, taking your intelligence and putting it next to the intelligence of another person can really clarify your own understanding and help make it more robust. Working in groups also forces you to demonstrate, in a detailed way, your mastery of the material. Again, on the exam you're not going to be explaining concepts to yourself you're going to explaining concepts to your professor. So getting practice explaining concepts and articulating your understanding to a party other than yourself is really helpful.
And finally I think the most useful thing about working in groups is it allows you to correct, clarify, and refine your thinking. The truth is this. We as human beings are not very good proof readers of our own understanding. That is to say we sometimes think we understand a little bit more than we do. So having other people around us who can help point out where the gaps in our understanding are can help us address those gaps much more quickly than we would be able to on our own.
To give a quick example, if you're writing an essay you can proofread that essay several times and you can make some changes and make it better but when another person comes to your essay with fresh eyes they often see things that you would have never seen. The same is true of your own understanding. Other people see your understanding and they see things about it that you would have never seen, they find gaps you would have never found, they see weaknesses that you can now address.
And this is a hugely helpful tool to help you really get where you wanna get in your technical courses. Remember, if you can teach your study group a concept and walk them through a problem that applies that concept and then answer their questions in a thoughtful way chances are you really understand the material and you have true insight into the concept. When you're forming a group think about the number of people you're working with. You don't want a group too large, usually two to six people is best. I often have my best experiences working with just another person. I didn't have to manage the logistics of a large group but I had someone else to help me refine my understanding.
But if you are gonna work with a larger group try not to make it too large. Too many cooks in the kitchen can create chaos. Welcome all levels of proficiency into your study group. Not everyone has to be a rockstar and not everyone has to be struggling with the material. In fact, a mix of these different varieties helps people really get to their goals faster because people who are having a little bit of trouble can learn from people who understand the material a little bit better and people who understand the material a little bit better benefit from helping teach and explain it to people who can use the help.
So having these different levels is really crucial to a successful study group. You wanna meet for two to three hours at a time, no longer than that or else you get off task, and try to meet at the same time each week. Make it a regular part of your study schedules. Avoid users, moochers, people who take from the study group and don't contribute. Everybody should be contributing and bringing something to the table. And finally try to work with people who have similar goals to you. If you're trying to do the course because you're just enjoying it and it's an elective versus having to take it, as a core course for your premedical requirements, these different students are going to approach the course in different ways and you wanna make sure you're working with people who have the same goals in mind. In terms of running your group make sure you set rules, guidelines, and expectations clearly at the outset.
Trying to set expectations once a dynamic is created is a lot harder than setting them up front. Also, understand what you're trying to accomplish. Having clear goals about what you're going to do not only weekly but also in the grand scheme of things helps clarify your purpose and helps you understand what you're really trying to do week in and week out.
Most importantly come prepared. Don't come to a study group cold, don't come to a study group not having done what the group expects you to do. One, it's not good citizenship. Two, you really miss out on the full benefits of a study group. If you come prepared you know what questions to ask, you know what help you need, you know what kind of clarification you'll benefit from. So make sure you come ready to make the most of your time. Communicate openly and honestly. I'll tell you this, the exam will be very honest about what you know and you don't know. So don't coddle each other. Don't sugarcoat things with one another.
Be clear, concise, and honest about where people are messing up, where their weaknesses are, and where they're getting it right. Being honest with each other before the exam is honest with you is gonna really help you prepare. Holding each other accountable in this way is crucial and making sure everyone feels held accountable and also respected is key to a successful study group.
And finally, try to assess your group's effectiveness as you move along. Sometimes we just become less effective over time and we need to make changes but we're not going to know that unless we think directly about what our effectiveness is and what we might tweak to be more effective moving forward. Remember, the test is going to test you eventually. Make sure to take the opportunity to test each other before the test tests you.