A study buddy is a person that you can study with on a regular basis. You can basically bounce information back and forth with that person to hopefully get a better understanding for your course material. Some study buddies are better than others, so you need to make an effort to pick the right one for your study style. You can choose to go solo of course, but it may be nice to have someone to support you while you learn. Here are some tips to help you find someone that will be able to help you through the studying process in the future.

Don’t Pick a Friend

While it may be tempting to study with friends of yours, that may not be as productive as you would like it to be. Every time you get with a friend, you are going to want to dilly dally. You guys will start talking about memories, gossip, or something else along those lines, and your studies will be put on hold. The same theory applies to girlfriends and boyfriends, so don’t study with them either. Try to find someone that you don’t know very well, just so you can stay focused on what you are learning.

Find Someone You Get Along with

While it is a bad idea to work with friends, it can also be a bad idea to work with enemies. You need to try to pick a study buddy that you can at least get along with. This doesn’t have to be a person that you can see as the maid of honor at your wedding, but it should be someone you can stand being in the same room with. Otherwise you will have to spend all of your study sessions in misery. Try to find someone in your class or classes that you don’t know well but can still mesh with. That way you can get the most out of your studying.

Choose someone of Equal Intelligence

It may be tempting to pick the smartest person in class to study with, but that may not be as productive as you think. That person is going to want to get something out of the study session too. Otherwise, he or she might as well be a tutor. If you pick someone that has the same basic level of intelligence as you, you won’t have to worry about looking dumb when you start studying. You can get feedback between one another and hopefully learn a lot along the way.

Find Someone with a Flexible Schedule

There is no sense in having a study buddy if you can never reach him or her. You need to find someone with a flexible schedule or at least one that matches yours. That way you can find times to meet that are going to be easy to access for both of you. Avoid people with chaotic work schedules or time-consuming software development courses. You just need to find someone that is going to have an open slot for you whenever you want it.

At the end of the day, your study buddy needs to be someone that you like and can learn from at the same time. In return, you need to be likable and helpful to the person you are working with. You may not be able to find the perfect study buddy the first time around, but keep looking. If you search long enough, you should be able to find a great person to study with well into the future.