This post is part of a series on using the theory of multiple intelligences to help you study. Miss the intro? Find it here.

Hey, social butterfly. Yes you, the one trying to set up your classmate with your cousin.   Who continually updates your 563 Facebook friends on the new techniques you’re learning this week, because that helps cement them in your brain.  Interpersonal learner, you might just want to drag yourself away from your weekly potluck extravaganza for long enough to read this blog entry, because I wrote it specifically for YOU.

I know that you’ve heard before that you should organize a study group.  What’s a study group consist of?

Recipe for a Study Group:

  • a group
  • of people
  • who get together
  • on a regular basis
  • to study

Easy, right? Here’s the rub: just because you learn best through interaction with real, live people, doesn’t mean that by getting together with people you will automatically learn something. It can be much more tempting to indulge in a friendly gossipfest instead of buckling down. What’s the trick to a study group that actually helps you learn?

Plan—ahead of time—exactly what it is you want to study.

Is it chapter 7 in your anatomy text? All the topics included on your massage theory test study guide? The anatomy of all the muscles typically effected by whiplash injuries, as well as the appropriate treatments? Do you want to practice your percussion techniques? Whatever it is, set your goals before the group meets, and stick to them.

Quiz one another.

Take turns asking one another questions and answering them. The beauty of this is, you have to know the answer before you can ask the question. So everybody learns more.

To make this more confusing you can do it Jeopardy! style and make the questioner the answerer, and require the answerer (who is now the questioner) to answer in the form of a question.  Or you can just do your best to erase every last vestige of the preceding sentence from your memory.  Forever.  (I suggest the latter.)

If you make note cards (you DO make note cards, right?), this can be a great place to start. Set them definition side up in a stack in the middle of the table. Take turns picking up a card, reading the definition, then attempting to remember the term on the opposite side. Hang onto the ones you get right. Return the ones you missed to the bottom of the pile.

[Some people find this makes an amusing drinking game. I don't drink, so I can't make an authoritative statement either way, but somehow I don't think beer helps much with information recall.]

Help explain the craziness to one another.

Some concepts are just more confusing than others. What on earth does Ohio law mean by the word “external” as it relates to massage? (We spent a solid 20 minutes trying to clarify this in class.) What the heck is going on with all those crazy little membranes in the inner ear? When is norepinephrine a neurotransmitter, and when is it a hormone? Odds are, members of your group can use your combined research and memory skills to explain the answer in a way that everyone understands.

This is a golden opportunity. I don’t know how many times I’ve only remembered a concept on test day because I remembered teaching it to somebody else. It’s crazy. And people have a tendency to pick out things that you’ve glazed over as unimportant. Sometimes, I wouldn’t have even studied a certain topic at ALL had somebody not needed help understanding it. I’m always so grateful they did.

Involve the innocent bystander.

Can you get the barrista to understand what you’re learning about? This is the true test of understanding. If you can’t make it simple enough for your kid brother to understand, you probably don’t have as firm a grasp on the subject as you could. Good-natured spouses and romantic partners are great for this. Promise them free coffee and the chance to hang out with you and your friends all evening, and they might not even mind spending the next two hours hearing about all the details of their GI tract.

Know when to quit.

Is it past your bed time?  GO HOME.  Sleep! It doesn’t matter that you haven’t yet gotten through all the material you wanted to cover tonight.  If it took you two hours to get through one concept, you obviously needed to work on that concept.  There is no shame in being the first to leave. There is no shame in realizing you’ve gotten to the point that additional studying isn’t going to help you anymore.  Everybody gets there eventually.  Have the brains to recognize it when you do.

So, interpersonal learner, are you ready to start your study group?  Got reflections on the group you’ve studied with in the past? Ready to take your group study activities to the next level of usefulness? Share!

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