StudyDuo
Whether to study alone or in a group depends on the task. Groups of three solve hard problems with a checkable answer better than their best member, and small-group learning raises college grades on average. Working alone does better for recalling what you've learned and for coming up with ideas: there, a group produces less than its members would separately.
Three setups, not two
- Alone: your material, your pace, nobody to explain things to.
- Together on the same material: a group that discusses, quizzes or solves problems as one.
- Side by side: each person on their own work, in one room or on video, talking only in breaks. It's the setup behind body doubling.
Most of the research below compares the first two.
Group learning raises grades, on average
The largest review of small-group learning in college is a 1999 meta-analysis of 39 studies in science, math, engineering and technology by Springer, Stanne and Donovan. Students who learned in small groups scored higher than students taught without group work (d = 0.51). They also stayed in their courses more often (d = 0.46) and had more favorable attitudes toward learning (d = 0.55). By the authors' estimate, the achievement effect would move an average student from the 50th percentile to the 70th.
Three details matter for your own group. Groups meeting outside class, mostly study sessions, had a larger effect on achievement than group work in class (d = 0.65 against 0.44). Studies where the researcher also taught the course reported larger effects (0.73 against 0.41). And the comparison was with lecture-based teaching, not with a student testing themselves at a desk. The review shows that groups beat sitting through lectures, not that they beat good solo study.
Should you study alone or in a group to memorize?
Alone first. Recalling as a group has a cost called collaborative inhibition. In Weldon and Bellinger's 1997 experiment, 192 students at UC Santa Cruz studied 40 items, shown as pictures or words, then recalled them alone or in groups of three. A group recalling together beat any single person, even the best of three. But it remembered less than three people who recalled separately and pooled their answers (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition).
| Who recalled | Recalled |
|---|---|
| One person alone | |
| The best of three people alone | |
| Three people recalling together | |
| Three people alone, answers pooled |
Source: Weldon & Bellinger, 1997, Experiment 1 (192 students)
A 2016 meta-analysis of 64 studies by Marion and Thorley found the effect reliable. It grew in bigger groups, among strangers, and when everyone called out items in any order. The best-supported explanation is that hearing other people's answers disrupts the order in which you'd retrieve your own. There's an upside: after recalling together, people later remembered more on their own (Psychological Bulletin).
Coming up with ideas follows the same pattern. A 1991 meta-analysis by Mullen, Johnson and Salas found that brainstorming groups produced fewer ideas, and weaker ones, than individuals brainstorming alone with their ideas pooled. Bigger groups lost more.
Do study groups raise exam scores?
Not reliably. Rybczynski and Schussler followed an introductory biology course of more than 500 students through one semester (CBE Life Sciences Education, 2011). Students who used out-of-class study groups did no better than students who didn't, on exams or on gains in a content test. Yet 85% of those who used a group for the first exam believed it had helped their grade.
The groups mostly worked from their notes: 98% spent time discussing or clarifying notes, and 35% worked on questions members had written themselves. Their hardest problems were deciding what to study and how (63.6%), finding time to meet (55.8%) and members arriving with different levels of preparation (53.2%). Only 14% of students used a group all semester, and 22% tried one and quit.
Over the semester, the students' preference to study alone or in a group tilted toward alone: agreement with "I usually prefer to study for exams on my own" rose significantly. The exam comparison rested on just 36 students with complete data, so read the result as weak evidence of no effect, not proof.
Why effort drops when work is pooled
Social loafing is the drop in effort when your work is combined with other people's into one result. A 1993 meta-analysis of 78 studies by Karau and Williams found it across tasks and populations. The factors that moved it most were whether each person's work could be evaluated, what people expected of their co-workers, how much the task meant to them, and culture.
The same paper draws the line that matters for study groups. Loafing is measured against working coactively: next to others, with your work kept separate. A group that writes one shared study guide works collectively; a group where each person reads their own chapter at the same table works coactively. If your group does share one product, make each part visible: one named person per section, presented to the others.
Where a group beats its best member
Problem solving is where groups earn their keep. In a 2006 experiment by Laughlin and colleagues, groups of three, four and five cracked letters-to-numbers codes in fewer tries than the best of an equal number of individuals. Pairs fell short of that, and groups of four or five did no better than groups of three.
Groups may also help more with using knowledge than with keeping it. In a 2009 study by Kirschner, Paas and Kirschner, 70 secondary school students learned heredity either individually or in trios. Those who worked alone got more out of their effort on a retention test. Those in trios got more out of theirs on a transfer test, which asks you to apply the material to new problems.
Which setup fits which task
Here's how the findings above sort out when to study alone or in a group, task by task:
| Task | Setup | Why |
|---|---|---|
| First read of new material | Alone or side by side | Your own pace; nothing to discuss yet |
| Memorizing terms and facts | Alone, then quiz each other | Collaborative inhibition |
| Ideas for an essay or project | Alone, then pool the lists | Brainstorming losses |
| Problem sets with one right answer | A group of three | Groups beat their best member |
| Applying ideas to new cases | A small group | Groups transferred more efficiently |
| A shared study guide | A group, one named section each | Social loafing |
| Long reading or writing sessions | Side by side | Separate work, so nothing to loaf on |
The side-by-side setup is the easiest to start, because you need people working at the same time, not people taking your course. On StudyDuo, Study Hour puts everyone in the same focus block once a day, and Focus Room never closes; here's more on how an online study group works. For one partner, these eight methods for studying in a pair put the research above to work. And if your group is mostly friends, these rules keep the sessions from drifting.
If groups wear you out, I don't like studying with other people looks at why, and what to do instead.
FAQ
Should I study on my own before a group session?
Yes. Come having done the reading and a few practice questions, so the session goes to problems and disagreements instead of catching someone up.
Do online study groups work as well as ones in person?
Most of the studies above were done face to face. Side-by-side work carries over directly to video, since nobody needs to talk. A discussion group works on a call with sound, as long as someone keeps the agenda.
What should a new study group agree on first?
A goal for each meeting, who prepares what, and a rule that everyone arrives having done the reading. Settle the time and place once for the whole term, so no meeting starts with logistics.
Is it a bad sign if I prefer studying alone?
No. Alone is the better setup for first reads and memorizing. If you add a group, add it where groups have the clearest edge: hard problem sets.
