How to Get the Most out of Your Study Groups

If you want to leave high school or college with the best degree possible, then you need to go out of your way to set up study groups with your fellow students. By embracing the group study, you will stand a much greater chance of filling in the gaps in your knowledge. What’s more, you’ll be sure to hone your people skills while you’re at it.

Why stop at simply setting up a study group and meeting with these classmates every now and again? To truly reap the benefits of working with your classmates in this sense, you should seek to get the most out of your communal studying sessions on a regular basis.

For advice on what it takes to organize an optimized study group, be sure to read on.

Keep your group numbers down

The bigger study groups are, the harder they are to contain, control, and engage. To get the most out of this form of studying, it’s important that you keep your group numbers down to no more than five people at a time.

Of course, so long as none of them are overrun with members, you can be in as many different study groups as you like. Just be sure not to spread yourself too thin in this instance by joining too many groups, as that could have a serious impact on your individual academic performance.

Designate a moderator

Your study groups should be led by a moderator at all times. Even if this means switching the role and letting everybody in the group have a chance to lead, there should be at least one person who organizes where and when you will all be meeting. It should be down to this moderator to make sure that everybody does their pre-reading and comes to the sessions prepared to study.

Also Read: Best Books for JEE Preparation

Ensure everybody remains engaged

Without there being a teacher or lecturer hovering around you to ensure that you stay on track, certain members of your group will more than likely become distracted during the studying session that you spend together. The trouble with this is the fact that procrastination breeds more procrastination, so allowing even the slightest form of distraction will quickly result in your whole group discussing topics that aren’t at all related to your lessons.

Keeping your fellow students engaged is always going to prove to be a challenge, simply because you don’t have the authority over them to tell them what to do. You cannot threaten them with detentions or other punishments, and you certainly cannot force them to do anything. Fear not, however, as there is one way to keep your classmates engaged with the tasks you have at hand: visual simulation. By embracing the high-impact teaching strategy known as concept mapping, you will be able to actually show your classmates what it is you are all being tasked with learning. For advice on the art of concept mapping and to find out more about what it can do to improve your study groups, be sure to check out Evidenced-Based Teaching.

Also Raed: Five Scientifically-Proven Study Habits That Guarantee Success

By getting the most out of your study groups, you and your fellow group members will stand a far better chance of reaching your full academic potential.