In my first semester of college, I had to learn a lot of new things like how to live on my own, how to live with someone else and faced the most important challenge: How to study harder for all of my classes?

In high school, I did not have to do much studying, as all of my classes and tests were easy and presented no real challenge. However, when college rolled around, I knew I had to change my ways. I read articles on how to study for college courses, talked to family and friends and consulted my advisor for her advice on studying. Everywhere I looked and asked, all the results were consistent – studying alone and not in large groups with classmates.

I did this for most of my first semester classes and just like high school I passed them with ease, but when my second semester rolled around, I tried group studying.

I feel that studying in groups is more of a distraction, and there is no true studying accomplished. Too many people have too many different questions. People get side tracked too easily. Some people who never pay attention or attend class go to the group study session and have an easy out.

I personally do not mind helping others, but I do not like helping people who won’t help themselves. I understand the person who does not get one concept in a subject and needs help or the guy who missed one day because he was sick, but more times than not, the people who want to have a study group are the ones who make no attempt in the classroom.

Now, I am not saying that all study groups are bad and that everyone needs to study like me. All students are different and learn in different styles, but I could never truly focus in study groups. You always have that one person who wants to dominate the study session and never hears others’ thoughts or concerns regarding the subject. This is another reason why I was never really intrigued with big study groups.

Studying by myself is faster, more time efficient and educational. I focus on what I need to instead of going over the same concepts that I already understood over and over again. When I studied with large groups, we would never go over what I needed to understand, and I would never truly learn anything.

Another reason why I am not in favor of large study groups is because everyone has different schedules, and it is always hard to please everyone. Some students have work, some are student-athletes and some have prior commitments, and it seems that no one’s schedule truly aligns with everyone else’s. This may lead to a very late group study session or a very rushed one, which I never like when studying. I understand that everyone’s schedules do not line up, but I am in college to get a degree, not to make sure everyone else passes.

Studying in groups is not totally horrible. Some people are better prepared for taking tests after consulting with friends, but if you don’t want to waste too much time going over what you already know and you want to study smarter, studying alone is the wisest.