Non-PG13 (Strong Language): Group work urgh

[Gingerbread Latte]

Stupid fucking group work.

So we had some group work to do at university and at the end of it we all get the same grade for the group project BUT to try and make things fair every member in the group gets to anonymously grade the other group members in order to make sure people who didn't pull their weight don't get better grades than they deserve.

This was all fine until I happened to get put in a group of 5 with 4 people who're already friends with each other...

I was really worried they'd mark me down because they dislike me so I tried my hardest to work well in the group despite having social anxiety. I like to think I'm fairly objective at marking my own work (we had to give ourselves anonymous marks too) and out of the group I think I was 3rd in terms of how hard I worked, higher than the guy who just pissed about a lot and the girl who barely said ANYTHING during group meetings.

Got the grades back to find out I've been ranked last in the groups so only given a C grade. It's just annoying because I KNOW I was better than a C. I got all the work done they asked of me on time, attended all but one of the meetings because it was scheduled short notice and I actively tried to contribute to the meetings and gave feedback on people's work. Unfortunately, giving feedback was probably what made them dislike me since NOBODY else would speak up if someone did something wrong so I was always the one who had to be the bitch of the group and point out where someone went wrong.

This is why I fucking hate people and I fucking hate group work.

[Adam the Fish]

I'm sorry it's been a week for you to get a response to this.

I haven't personally had tasks like this (the only group work I do is marked by a vulture-like assessor, watching everyone all the time, although I can't say that's much better), but it sounds incredibly frustrating for you. *People* are annoying, and it's unfair for you to get marked down. I don't know whether you might be able to seek to clarify this with whomever's in charge of the course? Even if you can't get anything changed, you could at least try, since I would have thought course leaders would be aware of issues that might arise (such as in your case) with the marking systems they have in place.

Best of luck, and whilst it's annoying, remember that there are plenty of opportunities for you to excel as an individual too.

[Gingerbread Latte]

Unfortunately, we were all told at the start of this project that there would be no staff input into this at all since they wanted to encourage to work independently and if there were problems in the group we were expected to resolve them ourselves.

Even if I could speak to the guy in charge of the module if 4 of my group members marked me low it's just going to be my word against their's so it'll just look like I'm the one fishing for extra marks even though I know I deserve them.

I still passed overall with a B thanks to the other criteria used for marking but it's just annoying because I knew this would happen from the start *sigh*

[NonIndigenous]

I'll tell you of an incident which might make you feel better in comparison.

I knew this black girl, extremely hard working at university. She ended up in a group with four other guys, working on one of the largest projects. It was additionally "sponsored" by some outside company, so the best 3 groups would get cash prizes. First prize was £1500 (I think, or more).

She pretty much did all the work. I know this, because I knew her, and I knew the guys she was working with. And I saw the way things were going between her and them. "Their" group got 1st prize, and the £1500 was split across 5 people. She knew this would be the case from the beginning. She knew she'd get only 20% of what she deserved, because they'd do almost nothing and leave it all to her. She did it anyway.

Does that make her a sucker? For getting bent over by those assholes? I don't think so. She didn't bend over for them. She didn't go and get the best grade by herself in that project to appeal to them. They were the last of her priorities. She did it only for herself. The £300 she got wasn't her focus either. She graduated eventually with the best average anyone ever has gotten on that course, landed an epic job and is probably going to get more money than all those losers put together.


So yeah. She was pretty... nuts in that respect. One of the most hardworking people I've ever known.

Anyway... next time when you know you'll be dealing with people you don't trust, bring one of these:



It seriously helps. But overusing it could make you kind of unpopular.