Do you, or did you have a study buddy or group?

Yes. One of us made a list of names, dates etc. we ought to know; another recorded sessions and outlined the material; the third wrote possible questions to which we should know the answers. We’d go over the stuff until we knew it. It’s the organization that helps you learn. Organization 3 different ways helped each of us learn and then all of us learn.
We all got A’s.
I didn’t do this until graduate school. Wish I’d sooner it sooner.

I personally didn’t. I was very happy and motivated to study alone. I have encouraged other students to form their own study groups, or to team up with a study buddy though. I think especially if you are struggling with the content in a particular field, having someone to bounce ideas off is very helpful. Most students who do it usually report back that they found the experience valuable.

I just had a student who has failed a course a couple of times contact me and I am going to set her up with a mentor. Someone who has passed the course previously. She is thrilled with the idea.

I studied both with my friends and alone. Gossiping limits the study in a group. But a little gossip after studying for long time is a refreshment. What we worked around it then was to divide the topics among friends, then each studied individually, and assembled and shared (or literally taught) each other. This worked pretty good with descriptive subjects like psychology, business management, etc. Division of topics can be done in accordance with everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. That way we finished lengthy (otherwise boring) subjects in less time and with ease.
Another advantage to study in a group is there is some (hopefully constructive) competition that keeps you going. It works well when chances are you are going to watch TV or play a game if you were alone.

If I took notes in class or read the information once, I remembered it almost perfectly and never actually had to study. So, no study buddies.

I usually don’t. Occasionally, I’ll partner up with a specific person for a specific exam that we’re both struggling with. But normally, I just find that other people confuse me, or that I’m somehow with all the people who used class time not to take notes but to doodle.

I never liked studying with anyone else.

I had one for chemistry. We were both pretty lost but when we put our brains together we manged to skull-fuck Stoichiometry.

I think everyones study preferences are different. I tried the whole study group/buddy thing but found that I always took more through notes and came better prepared. The group sessions never seemed to beneficial to me, I ended up just studying for tests on my own after freshman years of college. I did, however, offer to help friends who needed last minute assistance with certain topics.

When my then husband was in business school and his friends in law school, everyone had study groups. They seemed very beneficial but perhaps that was the luck of the draw.

Graduate school programs are more codified and less diverse than undergraduate ones and probably lend themselves more readily to study groups.

We used the group as our social outlet too, once the studying was over. We playedHearts with three decks of cards and eat pizza and drink beer.(Hurrah for the good old days,)