Pros and Cons of Group Studying

What precedes the dose of examinations students are given twice or thrice a year is the flurry of preparation activities. Where on the one hand, many students prefer to get lone time that they can devote to exam prep, other students also prefer to form pairs or groups where they get together and study for common exams. The latter concept, popularly called group studying, revolves around the exchange and sharing of notes among students and getting an idea of each others’ progress.

A lot of students might find this an effective way to improve their grades, while many would be hesitant, as the information known to one can be used by others too, thus, raising the level of competition. Elaborated further is a set of merits and demerits of Study Groups as a fad and an educational concept, for the benefit of all those who contemplate joining one:

1. Large Source of Information for All Members: All the members of the groups share information, i.e., notes and answers prepared by them and in turn receive the same prepared by others.

Merit: What happens this way is that each of them knows more about a certain topic or chapter than they otherwise would have. Hence, larger part of the syllabus is covered.

Demerit: Many feel that other members of the group may take undue advantage of their efforts. Chances are that some students do not prepare any notes at all and join these groups in order to get access to notes contributed by more hard working students.

How to Solve This: Try forming these groups with people you know and can trust. Do not go for very large groups, so that sharing information is easier and more beneficial.

2. Co-ordinated studying makes Students Study and Compare Simultaneously: The members of these study groups are able to know how much each student has prepared and accordingly speed up their preparations as well.

Merit: It helps bring students who lag behind due to different reasons, on the same level as his or her contemporaries. Also students can match up their preparation levels with others and get a chance to score more.

Demerit: The above mentioned benefit can be wrongly used by students too. In the wake of large amounts of competition, it becomes easy for students to keep a tab on other students’ performance. Students on the ambitious side do not take very well to this aspect of group studying.

How To Solve This: Prepare a set method for the exchange of notes and information of your progress. Go for a method through which exchange of information and study material is made easy, but irrelevant checks on others’ preparation isn’t. Even when you study in groups, make room for individual preparation.

3. Systematic Preparation Saves Time: Many topics to cover in less time? Group Studying makes this possible. Since many students study together, it becomes easy to save time and not waste it on distractions.

Merits: This can help students cover maximum amounts of their curriculum without procrastinating. An individual student may want to leave things till the last minute but a study group stops him or her from doing so.

Demerit: Study Groups are meant to succeed on the basis of mutual respect and that for time. A small opportunity for distractions can spoil the entire setup of the group and disrupt the progress being made by it.

How To Solve This: This is where the perseverance and dedication of not just one student but the entire group is put to test. One should encourage other members in the group to remain focused and not lose their efforts to a random distraction. Remember, one proper nudge in the right direction can help the entire group remain on track during preparation.

4. Overall Growth of A Student is Made Possible: Apart from exchange of study material and notes, people studying in a group together get to know other aspects of each others’ personalities as well.

Merit: Students also tend to socialize through these study groups and can explore and enhance their personalities too. Your level of confidence, communications skills, etc., tend to improve when mixing with other students your age. Also, important lessons like teamwork, time management and systematic functioning are learnt.

Demerit: In case students do not possess similar temperaments in a study group, grudges and differences may arise. For example, students might turn harsh or disrespectful towards other students in the group, thus breaking the harmony and general peace in the group.

How To Solve This: Students need to remember the major aim behind their getting together for group studies, which is, to mutually benefit from the exercise. Being considerate and taking in everyone’s point of view does not only help the group function better, it also you things you would not learn otherwise.

Even after the above discussion has been carried out numerous times among students, educationists and parents, a final opinion might be difficult to reach. What students must do at this point is to analyse their needs with respect to group or individual studying. Even if you figure out that individual studying is what you can manage with, go for it. Else you can always form or be a part of a study group with your classmates or friends. Sharing your knowledge does not merely give you a sense of achievement, it also helps you as an individual.

If you like what you read, spare a moment to share your ideas, feedback and views with us in the comments below. Meritnation provides our users with the Ask & Answer Forum ; a digital group studying platform which helps young learners to solve their subject queries, topic doubts and facilitate peer learning. Monitored by Meritnation Experts the platform is free for access to all our registered users.

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