■ My suggestion is to assign each class to one student. Each
student must master his or her assigned class, completing
any supplemental assigned reading, taking outstanding notes,
outlining the course (if the group so desires), being available
for questions, and preparing various practice quizzes,
midterms, and finals as needed.
Needless to say, all of the other students should still attend
class, take their own notes, and do their own reading and
homework assignments. But the student assigned a particular
class should attempt to actually become the “substitute
professor” of that class in the study group.
So if you have five classes, a five-person study group is ideal.
■ Make meeting times and assignments formal and rigorous.
Consider establishing rigid rules of conduct. Better to shake
out the nonserious students early. You don’t want anyone who
wants to work as little as possible to take advantage of your
hard work.
■ Consider appointing a chair in charge of keeping everyone to
schedule and settling disputes before they disrupt the study
group.
■ However you organize, clearly decide—early—the exact
requirements and assignments of each student. Again, you
never want the feeling to emerge that one or two of you are
trying to “ride the coattails” of the others.Where Should You Study?
■ At the library. There may be numerous choices, from the
large reading room to quieter, sometimes deserted, specialty
rooms to your own study cubicle. My favorite “home away
from home” at Princeton was a little room that seemingly only
four or five of us knew about—with wonderfully comfortable
chairs, subdued lighting, phonographs with earplugs, and a
selection of some 500 classical records. For someone who
needed music to study, it was custom made!34 How to Study