Tips and Tricks for Tackling Assignments (FY Edition)

In a group project, either you work too much or not at all. Either way, you are at a loss. Yes, you lose even if you don’t work at all. Believe it or not, your experiential learning topics are often reincarnated as demons who appear to haunt you in tests. Then again, with this god forsaken pandemic on your head, it is difficult to figure out how you can effectively do group assignments.

Worry not, we are always here to help. Let us bring you the learning we have acquired over months of taxing online classes. Here are the most efficient ways to do group projects with your new found peers, or enemies… no judgement! (scamming your way out of a project not included here. In this house we value learning, but we will teach you scamming later... maybe). Without further ado, here are some helpful tricks:

Taming the Team

The right team can make or break your project. Find out here everything you need to know for an effective team strategy.

1. Choose Well or Well, Lose

Choosing the right teammates is the most important thing you will do in a group project. Sticking with your friends is tempting, but you need people who work.

If your past experience tells you that your best friend has a tendency to slack off, find a new best friend.

Or just effectively communicate your decision to work with a different team so that you learn more. Find people who can complement your skills.

If you are good with writing, find a partner who is good with graphics. Group projects are all about pooling expertise and getting them top scores.

2. You Gotta Pay to Stay

A few people have this quality. If they see that the other team members are serious, they lay back and relax because they feel that someone or the other will take care of it.

In situations like these, ask these people politely to help. Give them a maximum of two chances, see if they have a legitimate reason. And if they don’t have a good enough reason, drop an innocent email to your teacher (notice not required) so that individual marks are affected. Cruel? Maybe. Unjust? No!

Assignment Tricks

This is where the real work is done. You are assessed on the basis of those few pages you eventually turn in. And to be completely honest, your presentation matters more than the content.

So make sure you follow these suggestions if you want to make a good enough project as quickly as possible.

1. Delegate Effectively

Make a group and list out everything that needs to be done for the project. From research to writing to pictures to the presentation (if any).

Now have all the members pick what they would like to do based on what they are good at. Make sure everyone has almost the same amount of work.

2. Set Weekly Mini Goals

We as students have a strong tendency to procrastinate heavy workload. Refrain from doing this because if you hold the project off till the eleventh hour, you will have to rush through it and it won’t come out standard.

Instead, set very small, doable mini goals per week. Maybe the first week, write just one paragraph. That’s it. Every little stone will eventually fill up the pot.

3. Use Google Cloud Apps

In case you still don’t, start using the Google apps now. Google docs, Google sheets, Google forms, Google slides etc. are all part of the Google Cloud app suite.

You can add your teammates as collaborators/editors and work together in real time. No need to send misformatted word docs on the group and then compiling it all.

4. Keep a Formatted Document Handy

The format for almost all the reports remains the same: Time new roman font, justified alignment (ctrl + J), scms logo on Cover (unless stated otherwise by faculty), font size- 12 (14 for headings) and page borders to make it look organized.

Make use of charts, graphs, and tables wherever possible as it makes the report look more readable and well-presented. You can keep this blueprint handy in your drive for anytime you have an assignment to save those extra minutes on formatting.

5. Have Deadline Windows

Ask your teammates to send in their parts at least four hours before the assignment deadline. This will give the one who’s compiling the report enough time for final editing and formatting.

And in the unfortunate case that a black sheep does not do their part, the team can still work together and devise a decent, make-shift report.

6. Send the Reports as PDFs

Unless it is explicitly specified by the teacher that the report has to be of a specific format, assume that you have to send it as a pdf.

It’s the best option because the format gets stabilized in pdfs (and even printing it out is easier which you may need once college opens).

You can’t say the same about word docs or slides. To get the best pdf format, directly download the Google Doc in pdf format.

We hope these tips help you to an extent. If you need more specific help or clarification on any aforementioned points, you can always email us at hush.hustlers.symbi@gmail.com.

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Let’s ace them assignments!