A typical day at B-school is filled with attending lectures, committee work, guest lectures, live projects, certifications, participating in various competitions, writing articles for various magazines and lastly
PLACEMENTS. This leaves little room for
Term Exam preparation.
If you thought solving 1-page CAT RC was difficult then how about solving
25+ page
Harvard Cases. Each subject is a mix of presentations, Case studies, group projects, YouTube videos, assignments etc and practically it is
impossible for you to do all the tasks individually and judiciously.
This is where
Peer Learning comes into the picture. Imagine discussing best solutions in varying scenarios and sharing experiences with Cohort members who have rich experience in Aerospace, Logistics, Manufacturing, Healthcare, IT, Project Management, Consulting, and Shipping industry. To sum it all it enhances your skills to
connect the dots and have a holistic view rather than sticking with
prejudice for a particular subject/sector.
So how do you prepare for your End Term exam?
1. Data Gathering - Team members gather past questions papers, class notes, hints given by the professor, feedback from seniors to come up with the most important topics for that subject.
2. Topic Allocation - Based on important topics and one's expertise team members select the topics and take up the responsibility of going through all study material including Youtube videos, McKinsey reports and create concise notes.
3. Creating Concise Notes - Members create concise notes for their topic comprising of a) Summary of their topic b) Important bullet points/Headings c) Mnemonics d) Industry Relevant examples e) video link (Detailed Explanation)
4. Collating Notes and Distribution - Once all notes are received they are collated and distributed within the team.
5. Feedback and Correction - In case any team member has concerns with a particular section or has a better solution then Collated Notes are updated with additional comments.
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe " -
Abraham Lincoln
I still remember we had a deck with 928 Slides for Material Management (That to half credit subject) and the next day we had an exam. It was nearly impossible for us to go through it individually, using Peer Learning
928 slides were brought down to
2 Page notes (
99.78% reduction).
Pre Requisite
1. All Team Members should contribute (Stay away from freeloaders)
2. Team Size should be small (4-10 members). At
KJ SIMSR, Operations Batch had 19 Students and this technique worked well despite having a team of 15+
3. Members from the diverse background will add more value