As my previous article stated, one of my resolutions is helping friends succeed with me! One of the best ways I’ve realized to attain this is by group studying. This is not something that I practiced last semester, except during anatomy lab. Below I have listed the pros and cons:
Pro #1: You can bounce back ideas and clarify topics that you may or may not have understood that well. You can also expand your knowledge on topics that weren’t expanded on well during class.
Con #1: You may not exactly understand what they are saying and there is a slight chance you may feel like they don’t have the information down as correctly as they thought. That is completely normal and honestly productive to discuss questions that you may not agree on. It’s a great learning opportunity.
Pro #2: Medical school is so busy. You are always jam packed with practicals, assignments, OSCE’s, and on top of all of that the mere difficulty of just classes themselves. Group study is a good way to make friends while also studying!
Con #2: Although it is a great way to make friends, it is also a way to get distracted. Thus, make sure you create a plan to stay on track. During breaks it is understandable to get food or talk about post-block plans, but make sure to make the time spent studying valuable and productive.
These are just a two pros and two cons that I found most important to deciding why I chose group study over individual study at times. With that being said, make sure of take time to cement everything covered during group study on an individual bases.
