My freshman and the majority of my sophomore year of college, I always studied by myself. I wholeheartedly relied on myself to keep up with my notes and study guides. It wasn’t until junior year when I started taking upper division courses that I started becoming more open to study groups. And let me tell you, sharing notes and creating study groups has been one of the best things I have ever done. One of my good friends happens to be in the same major as me, so that has allowed us to take a lot of the same upper division courses. When I took my first class with my friend, we created a shared Google Doc, made a study guide, and studied it together. We were so in sync that we would get similar grades on our tests—and yes, they were great grades! The secret to our success was our collaboration. If I didn’t know something, she did and vice versa. Sometimes, if neither of us understood a concept then we would attend office hours. Even in this area we would collaborate. If her schedule didn’t give her time to attend office hours then I would attend, take notes, and share them. Besides, what better way to learn something than to teach it to someone else.
So here’s my suggestion to you, find at least one other person that you know you can study with. You’ll do better and you’ll feel like you have someone backing you up in class. It’s like a support system.