Being stressed about a big assignment is something that all students will experience at some point. It’s normal to be anxious about something that could make or break your grade, especially if it’s in an already demanding AP class. This was recently the case for students taking AP Seminar, who had to research an important issue of their choosing, come up with solutions for it, and give a presentation on it, as well as write an individual research paper to accompany it. That sounds like a lot, and it is – but this wasn’t a solo assignment. It was a group project, which logically should have reduced students’ stress about it greatly – but it didn’t.
What makes group projects like this so stressful?
Ideally, in a group project, work is spread relatively evenly between group members. Sophomore Abigail Meyers did not have such an ideal experience, and was clear about how much the imbalance affected her stress. Meyers said of her role in the group, “I worked with background information, I worked with finding sources, finding journalistic as well as scholarly articles, and a lot of organizing.”
The role of organizing in particular contributed to Meyers’ stress. “We had a group chat, but there were times people wouldn’t respond and I would have to reach out individually and be like, ‘Hey, do your work,’” Meyers said.
When you have to pick up everyone else’s slack, group projects become very stressful very quickly. Ultimately, Meyers said that her biggest source of stress was “my group mates not doing their work, because it would put a lot on me… One of them would be like, ‘Oh yeah, I can get this done tonight,’ but it would be due at 1 p.m., and I would be like, ‘Hey, you have to get this done now,’ and then she wouldn’t respond until I would do the work for her.”
However, not everyone is stuck with a group that only does their work when pushed. Sophomore Hannah Goren had a group that was almost the exact opposite of Meyers’. Goren did not have a specific role in her group – no one did. Goren said that her group “divided all work on all parts as evenly as we could,” and they all did “a bit of everything.” Goren’s group, like Meyers’, had a group chat, but this one was utilized properly. Goren said it was their “primary form of communication,” and that she and her group mates “did a good job of filling each other in on our progress, ideas, comments,” and “everything that we felt the others needed to know.” Goren said she never needed to do anyone’s work for them, as her group was “fairly good at determining who was doing what and communicating if we had issues or anything that popped up and prevented us from doing that day’s work.”
However, Goren was not without stress – rather, it was the opposite. The very nature of group projects makes them stressful, regardless of who you are working with. Goren said, “I’m pretty sure I was stressed about something in at least every element of the project along the way,” and that she couldn’t even determine the biggest stressor without saying “the presentation itself.” Goren said that the project was “about 20% of our total exam grade,” and that “having a grade like that hinging on other people is a bit nerve-wracking.”
Ultimately, group projects are a double-edged sword. Meyers said, “I feel like having a group does help the distribution of work,” and that “having it as a group is nice because you have someone that you can kind of rely on.”
Goren said she prefers to work on research projects alone, but in this case, “having a group for a project this large definitely made it easier to handle.”
Large projects are always stressful, whether they’re solo or group – it’s just a matter of the amount of work and who you’re partnered with.
