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Hey there! Some buddies and I are starting a study group getting ready for exams. I would like to know any suggestions on what some of you upperclassmen have found to be the best way to make "study-grouping" efficient and effective. Thanks!

Most effective: Everyone does a practice exam on their own time. Then you come together and discuss your answers.
Less effective: "Can someone explain what proximate cause is?" *everyone sighs*
Least effective: Everyone comes together, studies on their own (but really just surfing Facebook), some light conversation

It's almost always better to study on your own, but if you're gonna go this route, try to stick to the most effective strategy.

For me, the most effective part of doing a study group was when I stopped going and started working on my own. I found grading my own practice exams to be a very helpful exercise.

If you have to do a study group for whatever reason, do what DZ said and bring completed exams to have others grade them.

best use of study groups, without a doubt, is reviewing past exams and comparing answers

I have two study groups which I've found to be somewhat helpful but their value is limited IMO. First one is a group of 3 who just make sure we kinda help each other outline the class notes. It's not a tremendous group, but we all individually miss things in class every now and then so we take 30 mins every few weeks to fill in gaps for each other.

Second "group" is me and one other person to just check/analyze practice exams we do on our own time.

If you're doing a group know why you're doing it. A hangout with buddies isn't going to accomplish much unless the point is to be a decompressor (which hanging around law students never accomplishes).

Make sure whoever you are in a study group is as smart as or smarter than you.. waste of time to be in a study group with people that aren't the brightest stars in the sky, or the sharpest tools in the shed, or the best crayon in the box, or ...

The "killer app" for study groups is grading, not just reviewing, practice exams that y'all took under realistic conditions.

The act of trying to assign numerical grades to answers and then comparing them can trigger some major light bulbs which others aren't likely to realize. Sometimes you can eyeball two answers and conclude they look good, but if you think about how the things are graded and try to apply a rubric you'll begin to realize where and how some answers pull ahead in a consistent manner.

Then you can actively try to do that on the exam.

TSL, always on dat next level grind.

Danger Zone wrote:TSL, always on dat next level grind.

Danger Zone, what is best in life?

(hint: it does not have anything to do with fleet horses)

thesealocust wrote:

Danger Zone wrote:TSL, always on dat next level grind.

Danger Zone, what is best in life?

(hint: it does not have anything to do with fleet horses)

Crushing your enemies and seducing their womenfolk?

Danger Zone wrote:

thesealocust wrote:

Danger Zone wrote:TSL, always on dat next level grind.

Danger Zone, what is best in life?

(hint: it does not have anything to do with fleet horses)

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women?

Yes. That is good.

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