Why studying doesn’t have to be a lonely affair
November is about the time in the school year when students go from stressed out to burnt-out, and only the thought of December holidays keeps many from dropping out entirely. While our professors would like to think we have devoted our entire schedules to their classes, most of us have to work, sometimes two or three jobs, go to extracurricular meetings, and would like to maintain some sort of social life on top of acing our final exams.
With all this on our plates, it can get tough to stay on top of our readings and assignments, and keep that GPA from slipping. This is where the good old-fashioned group study session, or “study party” as my friends and I like to call our weekly get together, comes in handy.
While your friends may not be the best aid to your concentration, it can be just as easy to get distracted when studying alone by either some Facebook photos of your friends’ trip to Cancun while by yourself in your room, or the hot guy or girl reading Voltaire sitting across from you in a crowded library. Soon, you’re two hours into another lonely study session, with only half a page of your essay to show for it.
Our weekly study parties may not be the best arrangement for cramming for a final exam or desperately trying to finish a term paper, but I’ve found them extremely helpful in keeping on top of all my readings and extra assignments. Knowing that I have that one night a week where I can concentrate on all the homework that may have slipped my mind has really taken a load off my shoulders this semester.
During our weekly study parties, my friends and I get to catch up on our homework while we catch up with each other, which is an added bonus to our arrangement. As busy students who all work as well, our gatherings are sometimes the only time we get to see each other.
None of us are in any classes together, so our arrangement doesn’t adhere to the typical definition of a study group where we compare lecture notes or work on assignments together. It’s just an informal get together that makes getting through our higher education just a tad less painful.