Study to Succeed by Cheng

Study to Succeed by Cheng - January 2014 Scholarship Essay

No one said it was easy, but they can all agree it is worth it. An education in today’s world is of the utmost importance. Those who stand out and achieve the A’s are more likely to succeed. But there is so much to learn. I have found out for myself that the best study method is when you are in a study group.

When you are in a study group you become a teacher to those in your group. But why is it important that you become a teacher? Teachers go through countless hours creating lesson plans so that they know the material and can answer all the students’ questions. It’s no debate as to whether or not your calculus teacher knows calculus, or whether your history teacher knows history. When you become a teacher to those in your study group, you have to know that material. By teaching someone else, you also help to solidify what you have learned.

Another benefit of study groups is that you have multiple minds working together. When you are alone you may get stumped, but when there are more than one person working for an answer, there is a greater chance that another person may figure it out. You can also build on each other’s thoughts. They may bring up a viewpoint that you did not see previously, yet directs you towards the answer. I remember when I have a study group for a biotechnology class. Often, while reviewing material learned in class, a few of us would not understand a certain process or reason behind it. Maybe that concept was protein synthesis or DNA replication. Either way, someone in the group would always have the explanation, or ended up sparking a memory of something said in class relating to our problem. We could always figure it out when there was more than one of us.

This leads me to my next reason: multiple people benefit. The whole point of studying is to learn the who’s, what’s, where’s, when’s, why’s and how’s. Studying is to insure that you know the all the details, but when you study in a group you bring it into a larger focus. You are all there to make sure everyone knows the information. Everyone helps each other comprehend the material. I had a study group for AP U.S. History. This group was very important because we helped bring each other up. Everyone benefitted from the study sessions and as a bonus, we also had fun doing so. When the AP test rolled around, we all passed. There were four of us and the AP score was out of 5. Our results were astonishing. We had two 5’s, one 4 and one 3. Because of the study group there was great success for not one person but for three others.

Starting a study group may be hard or uncomfortable at first, but in the end it is well worth it. When you are in a study group, you have a responsibility to the other members to help teach them. You don’t have to do all the teaching, but you can do your part to teach others. When you teach you become the expert and that helps them learn and help you solidify your facts. A study group also has many people working together towards a common goal. You become academic teammates building on each other’s knowledge of a course. There is an old quote “two heads are better than one.” If that’s true, what happens when you have three, or four heads? What I find most important in a study group is that there is more than one person succeeding. When everyone does their job in making sure everyone is cared for, there can’t be a reason for anyone to fail. A study group is a powerful tool. If used in the right ways, it can bring countless blessings.