The following article has been authored by Rishabh Gupta

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We’ve all been through it, getting a group together at home or somewhere else but something’s not right. If you’re reading together, you’ll soon realize that after a few pages you start to get bored. A little later you put your books aside and think we’ll start after 5 minutes, and soon enough those 5 minutes turn into hours and you’ll be discussing everything except studies. And then a whole day wasted.  That’s why I’ve devised these few points which may be a better alternative to your usual group study method, because Rules keep things simple and effective and leaves you less to worry about how and where you’ll be studying, so you can get on with what really matters.

General Rules for Group Study

  1. Each group shall consist of not more than 6 members. Any more may lead to lack of co-ordination and planning. I also encourage a good mix of male and females in the group to ensure discipline.
  2. The place this group is supposed to meet should not be someone’s home. Clearly that causes people to while away their time in pointless chit-chat rather than studying. Choose a public place, preferably a public library (Not the Institute’s Library).
  3. The group should devote a minimum of 2 hours of studying per day excluding a 10-60 minutes of break in between and the timings should not exceed 8 hours under any circumstances.
  4. The study group timings should preferably be between 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Meeting rules for Group Study

  1. The first meeting should take place to chart out the plans for the coming week.
  2. Each day’s study should be divided into two halves
    • The first half should be devoted entirely into studying all the nuances of a particular topic whether theory or practical in the best possible ways through the books of an individual’s choice. Each person is advised to note down all his queries in a separate notebook.
    • The second half which may be conducted outside of a library should entirely be devoted to discuss the topic to the fullest from the beginning and each and every person should declare and write down proper notes in another notebook. This half should also be taken up for discussion of each and every person’s query.

    For practical papers the students should first acquaint themselves to the basic formulas and methods of solving a particular question which forms the theoretical part.

  3. Each Saturday, the group should conduct a self assessment test based on the weeks study. This should be done preferably in the first half. Questions should preferably be from, practice modules, past year papers and revision test papers. Students are requested to give an honest attempt as you will do it for no one else but yourself. The papers should then be passed on for evaluation by a peer and each person’s performance should be discussed.
  4. Students should also take time out to plan and co-ordinate for next week.
  5. I advise that the group should keep the Second Half of Saturday free and use this time to socialize and relax or leave early for the day. We are all Humans after all. My personal recommendation would be a relaxing evening in the park/coffee shop/pub or catching a movie.
  6. One person, each week, should also be assigned to prepare and distribute question papers to everyone else at the end of the day either hard or soft copy for an open book test to be undertaken by each person on Sunday.
  7. I also recommend that the group should keep one day in a month completely free and no group studies/individual study should be done on this day. The members can rather co-ordinate a social activity or just unwind on this day.

Note

  1. These rules are not hard and fast and can be altered according to the group’s wish. These are meant to keep things simple and uncomplicated.
  2. I request that the group members remain honest to themselves as it will be their gain or loss.