Some students love them, while other students hate them. Regardless of how you feel, study groups are almost a mandatory part of nursing school life. In order to get the most out of your study group, here’s the top 3 study group mistakes that students make.
Choosing the wrong study group
Most study groups start by accident when a bunch of friends decide to study together. Unfortunately, good friends don’t always make the best study partners. If you don’t feel like you’re getting the most out of your study group, ask yourself if you’re studying with the wrong people. Study groups aren’t a social activity, so it’s more important to review with people that will challenge you and keep you accountable, even if you’ll never become best friends.
Minimizing your contribution
It’s easy to fall into the trap of negative self-talk, and that trap becomes even more vicious when you start sharing those negative comments about yourself with your classmates. For example, have you ever caught yourself thinking something like “I don’t know what’s going on in class, so I’ll just sit back and listen to everyone else in the study group.” Would YOU want to work with someone who has that kind of attitude? It’s the equivalent of saying “I don’t think I can do it, so I’m not going to try…I’ll just mooch off of your hard work.” No thanks!
Complaining and gossiping
Everyone needs to vent occasionally, but it’s frustrating when your study group does more venting than reviewing. But are you contributing to the problem? Once everyone starts complaining, it’s easy to just join in and add your own problems to the list. That just wastes precious study time, and encourages others to continue chatting instead of getting down to business. Before you know it, an hour or two has passed and you’re no closer to being prepared for your next exam.
In my next blog post, I’ll be sharing some strategies you can use to prevent (or fix!) these mistakes. Once you know the Your Nursing Tutor way of approaching study groups, you’ll start loving study groups instead of dreading them!
Nicole Whitworth is the founder of Your Nursing Tutor. She has a BSN and an MA in Clinical Psychology, and has been a professional nursing tutor for over 12+ years. Nicole specializes in getting nursing students through school confidently and calmly so that everything finally “clicks”. She is also the creator of the Silver Bullet Study System, an easy-to-follow study method that automatically trains your brain to become a nurse at the same time that you study for your normal nursing classes.
