To Study Group or To Study Solo? ...That is the question...

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I'm beginning nursing school in January and would like to know how people feel about study groups. I attempted them in Community College when I was completing my pre-requisites, and I found them more trouble than helpful. People generally end up jibber jabbering about anything other than the subject at hand, while others just come to get re-taught the information they haven't studied.

I became anti-study group and studied everything solo and found that I could manage my studying much better on my own. It seemed to work, because I did well in all my classes and got accepted into a BSN program starting in Spring. I know that nursing school will be different, and I'm hoping that students will be more focused and able to have study groups more efficiently. What is everyone's experience with studying solo or with other people?

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I personally like to study on my own. I find with study groups people are at some many different levels of knowledge that you can end up just teaching other people. Also, they tend to be clickish at my school and people just talk about other things besides the study material. Also, in person experience if you study with other people they always seem to want to know your grades afterwards and I don't like sharing my grades, good or bad! Just my two cents ;)

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I personally like to study on my own. I find with study groups people are at some many different levels of knowledge that you can end up just teaching other people. Also, they tend to be clickish at my school and people just talk about other things besides the study material. Also, in person experience if you study with other people they always seem to want to know your grades afterwards and I don't like sharing my grades, good or bad! Just my two cents ;)

I agree.... I will see how it goes when I begin... Thanks for your input!

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I too tend to study better on my own. If you preferred it in pre-reqs, you'll probably still prefer it in NS. I would just watch your grades...if they slip at all, give a study group a try and see if they improve. But otherwise...folks like you and me will probably continue on riding solo in the study dept :)

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I too tend to study better on my own. If you preferred it in pre-reqs, you'll probably still prefer it in NS. I would just watch your grades...if they slip at all, give a study group a try and see if they improve. But otherwise...folks like you and me will probably continue on riding solo in the study dept :)

Thanks, that makes me feel better... I just don't want to feel like the leper who doesn't want to study with anyone in a new school..lol. Everyone has their own way of success, and I plan to try it both ways, but HopefulKAte made a good point that when you feel like you are just teaching other people, then it seems like more of a waste of time.

Thanks for your input!

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Study solo first and then study in a group. Don't make the group take too much of your time.

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I like to study alone and then with a study partner. It is imperative to find a study partner who it at your level. You don't want them to waste their time explaining things to you or for you to be spending the whole study session explaining things to them.

Once you have studied on your own, you can bounce ideas off of one another and ask eachother questions from the material covered in class. I've found that this method is great for both understanding concepts and memorizing details. Sometimes I have a hard time getting details into my brain, and having someone drill me on them is helpful. Ideally, your study partner will pick up on your weaknesses and will randomly ask you things you don't remember well.

For example, my study partner asks me on Monday what Methotrexate does. I don't know. She tells me, and I repeat it back to her. Then, toward the end of that study session, she asks me again. During Wednsday's study session, she asks me again to be sure I remember what Methotrexate does.

Sometimes, I ask my study partner to go over something very specific to help me memorize a chart, for example.

I have found this method to be far moe useful than studying in a group. It allows you really get the material down pretty efficiently. As I said before, the hard part is finding someone at your level (to avoid a teacher-pupil situation). Also, both people must be totally willing to allow the other person to know their weaknesses.

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I like to study alone and then with a study partner. It is imperative to find a study partner who it at your level. You don't want them to waste their time explaining things to you or for you to be spending the whole study session explaining things to them.

Once you have studied on your own, you can bounce ideas off of one another and ask eachother questions from the material covered in class. I've found that this method is great for both understanding concepts and memorizing details. Sometimes I have a hard time getting details into my brain, and having someone drill me on them is helpful. Ideally, your study partner will pick up on your weaknesses and will randomly ask you things you don't remember well.

For example, my study partner asks me on Monday what Methotrexate does. I don't know. She tells me, and I repeat it back to her. Then, toward the end of that study session, she asks me again. During Wednsday's study session, she asks me again to be sure I remember what Methotrexate does.

Sometimes, I ask my study partner to go over something very specific to help me memorize a chart, for example.

I have found this method to be far moe useful than studying in a group. It allows you really get the material down pretty efficiently. As I said before, the hard part is finding someone at your level (to avoid a teacher-pupil situation). Also, both people must be totally willing to allow the other person to know their weaknesses.

That's great advice, thank you! I agree that a study partner, rather than a group is more helpful. Groups always end up as, like you said, a teacher pupil thing, which i'm uninterested in having.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

I usually study by myself or with one other person then, Ill meet up with a study group a bit closer to the test. I find that there will always be a point brought up that i may have missed and end up being a question on the test!

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May as well try. I find a small group, just me and one other person to be helpful....but more than that I don't learn a thing.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

Well if I didn' have kids then I would say study groups can be fun and somewhat helpful. Not so much for studying but it is good to make some friends because there definately times when you will have late night questions and certain things you may not always get. An example would be I do okay on careplans and very well on tests but to do better on careplans it would be nice to be with a group to maybe learned to do them better a little faster. I have kids so I don't at all have the extra time to go to any study groups unfortunately but I'm still doing very well in nursing school solo so I think whatever works for you. And even solo you still make friends because it doesn't take long to become friends when you're cleaning an incontinent pt. together or dodging sputum together :) Enjoy!!!

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there was a test that I did when I was freshly entered paramedic programs 2 yrs ago. The end results of the test tells you what kind of learner you are, solo, group, visual , audio...,etc. It was given by my instructor at Stony Brook. I don't remember what's it called, but you may find it through your local college career center of related offices.

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