The best way to learn is to teach

Are you looking for a way to improve the performance of your study time? One of the most effective ways to learn something in your course is to teach it to others. You can do this informally by helping your peers or by organizing a study group, or formally by offering your services as a tutor. Whatever you choose, you will be the one who benefits the most!

Consider:

• If you can explain it to others, then you know you have it well prepared. You can approach the exam with confidence, a confidence that you won’t get with many other study techniques. You will have already been tested and approved!
• You will find that your understanding deepens when you have to explain it to someone else. Teaching a subject always implies knowing a little more than what you really need to convey. A little more basic information is always needed to teach successfully. Therefore, you will be forced to increase your knowledge of your subject to a level more than adequate for your exam.
• From a simple time management standpoint, arranging to explain to someone else at a certain time what you’ve decided to share will keep the pressure off. Working alone, as you often do when studying, makes discipline and meeting deadlines difficult. It’s very easy for time to slip away, as everyone knows, without much progress. If you know that you will have to present the information the next day, you will be much more focused than you would be if you were studying alone.
• You don’t have to be an expert, you just need to be one step ahead of your peers, so it’s not as difficult as it sounds. Even offering to help a friend through a course, while you study it the day before, will greatly improve your grades, not to mention the satisfaction you’ll get from helping another person become familiar with a subject they thought they couldn’t master.
• If you are helping a younger student, through routines or tutorials, although the content may not be an immediate part of your own study, you will be consolidating information that you might have covered in previous years of your course, helping you to absorb and understand the higher level material you have to cover yourself. This is particularly true in the case of mathematical or scientific studies. And maybe you can earn some pocket money in the process!
• Remembering what you have learned is essential to study. And there’s no better way to remember than to re-explain it to someone else.
• If everyone takes turns leading a group, it’s a great way to share the workload. Although you will still be better prepared in the topics you present, if you are in a hurry, at least you will cover much of your course in a short time.
• There is great satisfaction in seeing the lightbulb go off in someone else’s face when they understand a concept you are trying to explain. Who knows, you might get the teaching bug and pursue it as a career!
• If you gain a reputation as someone who is good at explaining or good at approaching questions, you will find that more and more people will ask you, which in turn will push you to higher and higher levels. The informal social support structure that comes from this will also greatly increase your enjoyment of college or school.

Whether you have the opportunity to tutor, teach routines, lead your own study group, or simply help a friend, you will find that having to explain course material to others will greatly increase your own understanding. It’s unbeatable as a way to continue your studies! Try it today, you won’t regret it.