SYMBIOSIS DURING EXAMINATION PREPARATION: THE PERCEIVED UTILITY OF GROUP DISCUSSIONS TO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN ZIMBABWE

The dynamics of examination preparation by university students is an aspect worth exploring especially in the world of academia. The main thrust of this empirical investigation was to scrutinise the utility of group discussions when university students prepare for their end of semester examinations. Theoretically the study was grounded in the field of Psychology of Education and was particularly based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the concept of African personality. The phenomenological research design was used and the chi-square test was also employed to determine if there is no association between university students' academic level and their perceptions regarding the utility of group discussions in examination preparation. As a form of instrumental triangulation, open-ended questionnaires and focus group discussions were used as data gathering instruments. The stratified random sampling method was employed to select an assorted sample of 120 university students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The sample was composed of 82 undergraduate students and 38 postgraduate students. The generality of the research participants at both tiers of higher education conceded that group discussions play a crucial role in ensuring that they march towards examinations with a semblance of confidence. A significant proportion of the research participants revealed that group discussions make them mentally fit to write their end of semester examinations. Nevertheless, some students hinted that it is dicey to solely rely on group discussions when one is preparing for end of semester examinations. It was recommended that university students be accorded the opportunity to work collaboratively especially when doing coursework since a substantial proportion of them believe in intellectual symbiosis and interdependence.