What ever happened to arcane methods of learning like opening a book, reading it, then memorizing what you need to know.
I don't know. Everyone has different study habits, and I think that by the time you leave college you should know what works for you. Starting early in API and through primary instructors continually pushed us to study in groups. That was great for trading gouge and lessons learned, but not everyone needs to be partnered up to actually study. Apparently some people do need that though, and thus the push by instructors.