As someone working as a firefighter you rarely work alone, so why should you do your firefighter promotional exam prep alone? The easy answer is you shouldn’t. Build yourself a study team to help you study and succeed for your upcoming firefighter promotional exam.
A hard part of studying is how easy it is to lose focus. Studying for your firefighter promotional exam with a team of people who are all going for the same goal will help you stay accountable for your time spent studying. Make a plan with the people on your team to keep each other accountable. You can meet weekly (or Zoom nowadays) and go over material and quiz each other. If you, or a member of your team, notices you have fallen behind you have someone to hold you accountable for your slacking. Having people who are working with you and have expectations of you is a huge motivator to get your studying done not only in a timely manner but also effectively. No one wants to feel like the person in the group that knows the least, so use your teammates to your advantage and get studying.
Not only do you have someone to hold you accountable, you have a group of people to build you up. You have a team to support you and help you get where you need to be, and that comes with the knowledge that you are not alone in this. Studying for something as important as promotion in your career can be extremely stressful, so having a team of people there for you every step of the way, and who know exactly what you are going through, is a huge help.
Besides emotional support and encouragement, having a team of study partners allows you to share resources. Books can be expensive, so share them! Depending on how many books you need to study and how many people are on your team, make a book schedule. Meaning one person gets this book for a set amount of time and then must pass it on to the next person. This way you have to keep up to date on your studying because if it is your study-mate’s turn to use the book you are currently working on, you have to give it to them or you will hinder their studies as well as yours. It forces you to keep up to date on your studying and has the potential to save you some money. Don’t stop at books either, share study guides and flashcards. Just be sure everyone is doing their part and no one is just using your material without putting in the work.
When you are studying for your firefighter promotional exam, you will not have an instructor to go over material with if you get stuck on a topic. If you have a study team you will have people to work problems out with right at your fingertips. Knowing you have people that can help you succeed is a good feeling to have and will help you feel more secure as you start your study journey.
Working on a study team also has the benefit of making studying in more modalities easier. For one, you will instantly be talking out loud about the material which is such an important way to study, but may feel awkward doing that if you are studying alone. According to a Psychology Today article, saying things out loud helps your remember things more than when you study silently. Also, you are more likely to make flashcards to use in your group study sessions which is an excellent study method. Doing more than just reading and taking practice tests will ultimately help you improve your test scores.
After you take your firefighter promotional exam there are two possible outcomes, you pass or fail. If you pass you have a group of people to celebrate your success with who have been with you every step of the way. If you fail, you have a group of people to support you and encourage you to get back on that horse and try again.
Studying for and passing your firefighter promotional exam ultimately falls on your shoulder, but why not have a team of people on the study journey with you. Sure you can take firefighter promotional exam practice tests alone, but expand your horizons and build a team to not just study with you, but support you throughout your firefighter promotional exam journey.