Shortly before the start of the presentation, your nerves are on edge.

While one desperately tries to connect his laptop to the whiteboard, the other red-faced rearranges her index cards at the last minute.

A third person stands almost uninvolved next to the scenery and the fourth in the group hasn't even appeared.

Annoyed, the lecturer blames the group's poor preparation while the rest of the seminar sleeps with their eyes wide open.

At least half of all seminar sessions during my bachelor's degree looked something like this.

To this day, it still doesn't make sense to me why lecturers are of the opinion year after year that group work followed by a presentation is an enriching change in any student career.

After all, it is common knowledge among students that group work is one of the most hated duties of student life.

Because everything that usually happens in the run-up to such an unsuccessful attempt at a presentation is usually very nerve-wracking for us students.

Numerous discussions and friction with fellow students, most of whom are strangers, and different ideas about work ethics - the thread of patience threatens to tear more than once.

In this type of social learning, a wide variety of characters usually collide who would never have come together if their group colleagues had freely chosen them.

And even during the first joint discussion of the forthcoming cooperation, it is often clear that it will be difficult to find a common denominator.

Therefore, the following often happens: Different types of group work quickly emerge.

The Committed

First, there is the committed.

He quickly takes over the scepter of every joint work and tries to direct the others through the presentation chaos.

Above all, he pursues one goal: to achieve the best possible overall grade, no matter what the cost.

The idler

The second type of group work takes advantage of the ambition of the committed person.

The idler knows about the ambition of his teammate and therefore does one thing very skillfully - nothing.

Be it calculation or simply indifference, he knows that if he does less, the dedicated fellow student does all the more.

In this way, these two types enter into an apparently symbiotic relationship, which, however, usually ends in the former complaining loudly about the laziness of his fellow student.

The Observer

The third type of group work is the observer.

He has firmly resolved to help with this group work more actively than with previous ones.

On the other hand, he says nothing for almost the entire preparation time, and if he does, they are mostly useless comments or suggestions for improvement, which do not directly damage the group dynamics, but do not exactly promote working together either.

For his fellow students, the question always remains: Is it shyness that prevents the teammate from contributing something profitable or simply the fact that he did not fully understand the topic?

The Absent One

Last but not least, there is unfortunately a fourth type: the one who is always ill or otherwise unable to attend on the day of the presentation.

However, so that the group does not have to suffer because of his non-attendance, he sends his fellow students his own notes at the last minute.

One of the others then has to recite it, more badly than right and mostly stammering.

High potential for conflict

Contrary to scientific studies, which emphasize the numerous advantages of group work, such as increased motivation, the development of social skills and the exchange of knowledge, experiences from everyday student life show above all that team work harbors a high potential for conflict.

And left the contributors unnerved.

However, since lecturers do not want to move away from group work and some students even hate the accusation that professors only want to make it easy for themselves by shifting their own job onto the students, the question remains how to do group work survive without being driven to the brink of insanity.

So here are a few tips that can make working together easier: In order to initially avoid that the to-dos within a group work develop into a "Do-Du's" and one person takes over the entire work, some group rules should first be established.

In addition to basic understandings such as punctual appearance and cooperation, this includes that tasks are distributed equally and that it is determined from the beginning who will present what.

In addition, a concrete schedule can help to achieve sub-goals within the group and to achieve a successful presentation step by step.

Nevertheless, complications can arise when working together.

Be it heated discussions regarding the group topic or misunderstandings in the distribution of tasks.

No matter the type of difficulty, all group members should try to respond to the problems calmly and matter-of-factly.

This is the only way to find solutions and ultimately achieve a good overall result.

And if you still threaten to overcook from time to time, you should keep one thing in mind: Even tiresome group work is over by the end of the semester at the latest.