Study Buddy Your Way To That A

By Francine Fluetsch on August 6, 2014

This article is brought to you by the Uloop Test Prep category. Are you ready to take the GRE, GMAT, MCAT and LSAT? If so, compare Test Prep services with the Uloop Test Prep category.

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You know what’s boring? Studying.

Unlike something concrete like homework, you never actually know when you’re finished with studying. Can you ever really be finished? Studying actually takes a while to master, which is weird because technically we have been doing it our whole lives.

Personally, I didn’t fully learn how to study until I got to college. I mean like really study. In high school you do have to study, but not as much as you should. You know that your homework grade will pretty much guarantee your good grade, so studying for like half an hour will probably be fine there.

College is a whole different ballgame. Homework hardly counts for anything, and sometimes it doesn’t even count, leaving your grade to be determined by your ability on your midterms, finals and papers.

This is a daunting realization, especially when you are fresh out of high school. While there are many ways to approach studying, I have found that having a regular study buddy for homework and tests alike can be a great way to get things done and learn the material.

So why should you get a study buddy? Let’s take a look:

You get your stuff done:

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I would meet with my friend to go over our German homework. We would either do it together, or if we were pressed for time, go over answers or figure out the main concept to really hard things.

Though sometimes I really wanted to take a nap instead of go and study, it really helped me get all my homework and study guides finished in about an hour, and left me with a lot more time to do other things.

Unlike German classes in the past, I now never had to stay up until midnight, stumbling over the translations and about ready to pull my hair out.

The key to getting a lot out of your study buddy is to make regular meetings and stick to them! Sure, sometimes life gets in the way and you have to skip, but try and go as much as you can.

You learn the material faster:

Having to explain something to someone else causes you to think it out in a way that is easy to understand, helping both your study buddy and yourself.

Everyone has different strengths, which is what makes studying with someone else so wonderful. The things that you find difficult, they might have completely down, and vice versa.

You’ll be able to ask each other questions right then and there, instead of having to wait until the next time you see your professor.

It also helps when you both find something confusing, because then you know it’s not just you and maybe the professor didn’t cover it enough. It’s always nice knowing someone else is in the same boat as you.

Tackling it together will most likely give you the results you are looking for, and if not, you at least have someone who will stay after class with you and talk to the professor.

A great friendship is born:

You definitely want a study buddy who you get along with and is on a similar level as you. Study buddies might not always turn into friendships, but if you are meeting regularly over coffee and helping each other through the class, chances are you will start to want to hang out outside of the study environment. You’ll have someone to sit next to in class and someone to grab a snack with after class.

The best thing to do is keep your study group to only one or two study buddies. This makes it easier to plan meetings and keeps the stress of a bunch of people talking at once out of it.

Three can be really great because it’s still small, but gives you that one extra person to bounce ideas off of. And you’ll gain two new friends along the way.

I’ve tried the larger group thing, and we hardly got any studying done. No one wanted to focus so we ended up talking about random things and while it was fun, it wasn’t very productive.

If you have a hard enough time getting yourself to focus, the last thing you want to do is put yourself in an environment where focusing will be out of the question.

You learn how to study:

As mentioned before, there are many different methods to studying, and if you study with someone else, you can compare and contrast methods to see which you like best and will bring the best results.

They like flashcards? Give it a go! You can both also use different methods and then have a friendly competition to see who did better on the midterm using which method.

As you can see, it is definitely worth your while to acquire a study buddy. You’ll breeze through your homework, study more than you would otherwise for your exams, and gain a new friend. Happy studying!

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