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STUDY BUDDIES: THE DARK SIDE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
KAPLAN STUDY GROUP
STRATEGY
Try having each member
prepare a brief lesson on one
of his strengths, and take turns
sharing your lessons with the
rest of the group. Make time for
questions and answers during
each mini tutorial. This way, not
only do you reinforce something
you're already feeling confident
about, but you can also learn
from experts in the areas where
you can improve.
Now that you're ready to call up every SAT taker in your area code and form your study
group, let's talk about potential pitfalls so that you'll know how to avoid them. If you've
ever had to do a group project before, the dangers often found in group study situations
are probably no secret to you. Beware of the following:
More Chatty = Less Worky
The biggest potential danger in a study group is, well, not studying. If you get a group of
your friends together, your first reaction might be to rehash all of the newsworthy events
that happened during the day. Doing this completely invalidates the whole study portion
of study group.
What can you do to avoid it?
The best way may be the most shocking piece of advice in this whole chapter. Are you
sitting down? Ready? Don't pick your friends as study buddies.
Consider looking for study buddies with whom you won't run the risk of excessive socializing. Choose
those who share a common goal: succeeding on the SAT. Sure, your friends want you to do well on
the SAT, too, but if you don't stick closely to your study schedule, they'll more than likely cut you some
slack, which doesn't help you much. If you have some friends who will keep you on task, then by all
means make them your study buddies, but save your favorite procrastinators for blowing off steam
after you've taken a practice test.
No Time to Meet
Does this sound familiar? You have soccer at 7:00 AM Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; school until
3:30 PM every day; and cello lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, but it takes 30 minutes
to get there, plus you have to eat dinner. On Saturdays, you go to visit your grandmother, who lives an
hour away, and every other Sunday in months ending in y you volunteer for the local free-range hamster
rescue. And now you have to work around someone else's schedule. With everything else going on in
your life, how can you and your study buddies make time to meet?
What can you do about it?
First, look for people who share a schedule similar to your own:
•
Who else on your soccer team is taking the SAT this year?
•
Maybe someone at the hamster rescue can meet with you on every other Sunday to take
practice tests?
Often, students form study groups and then think about when everyone can get together, but Kaplan
recommends choosing study groups based on schedules, particularly if your schedule is extremely full.