Study groups?

[nocomply]

I'm a first year.  Should I get into a study group?  Two groups of students have asked me to join, but each group has 5-6 people in it already.  Isn't that too many people for one group?  I have no idea, any thoughts would be appreciated.

[amoebalaw]

This has been hashed to death in other threads, so definitely take a look.

Still, here's my $.02: it's different for everyone. At the very least, you get to bond with some of your classmates (assuming you don't wind up hating them).

If you are lucky, you come out better prepared. If you are unlucky, your study group wastes a lot of time that you could have spent studying on your own. Hard to predict beforehand.

As for how many people, again, totally depends. Organized well, different perspectives can be great. On the other hand, there are obvious distractions.

Give it a shot, see how you feel with it. The one thing I would caution is this: never rely on the others to do your work for you. Don't split up the reading, or the outlining, etc. Going through it yourself will help you learn and prepare for the exams like nothing else will.

Good luck!

[Felsen]

It all depends on what helps you study best.  Hopefully you have some clue about that from High School and College.  Some people work best alone, some work well in big groups.

Personally, I prefer small focused groups.  My ideal size is 3-4 people.  With 5-6 you have to have a good taskmaster to make sure the conversation doesn't devolve.  People also have to make sure they don't talk just to contribute "I agree with" statements.

More importantly is that you find out what the groups will actually be doing and make sure it fits with your goals.  My group studied exclusively for the tests.  We took old tests from the professor, took them on our own time, and then talked about the problems and how we would answer them.

Other study groups will sit and discuss the readings for the week, rehash what the professor talked about, or prepare outlines for the tests.

As I said at the start, look back on High School and College to see what kind of studying worked best for you.  Find the group that has the right size and focus for you.

[nocomply]

Thanks, this is good advice.  I never was in a study group in high school and college, I always worked best alone.  I'll see what happens.