The Student Room Group

Had the worst final day of year one at uni

In our first week of semester two, our new modules started. We were informed about all upcoming assignments/group work by our lecturers. In week one, our lecturer read out the names of each group. She gave everyone the same task with the same deadline. The task was all groups needed to decide whose doing what, then come up with a deadline for each week, we had to use our independent study time to get the deadline met. We also had to do group meetings outside of university.

I live in the Cotsworld and spend typically two hours on public transport getting to and from university. When we had group meetings they would cancel halfway whilst I'm on the train which cost me money. Today was our final assessment deadline, we've finished two weeks earlier then most courses. The lecturer who teaches the module happens to be my academic advisor.

The group presentation went horribly wrong, we all messed up. I do admit I made mistakes. I thought I'd only have to know about my bit as I be talking about the work I did but she told me in a meeting that already was arranged for today that everyone was supposed to know the whole group presentation.

At the end of our group presentation whilst other groups prepared for theirs I heard two members in our group go to others and moan about me saying it's all my fault and I didn't prepare enough for this. This upset me, I spent a lot of time preparing for my tasks, I showed my academic advisor my notebooks and my documents during the tutorial. I'm just upset and I'm questioning if university is for me. I've used my gift year, I've had the worst final day. Sorry for the negatives.
Hang in there and take the lessons learned. Next time you are in a group, take the lead, set the meeting times to suit you and ensure everyone knows you have taken a lead role so no-one can blame you later. Run through the whole presentation as a group several times before the actual assessed presentation so that everyone will know what each person is covering; naive to think you would only be quizzed on your bit of the presentation.
I always made a point to know every part of a project even in group work (incase someone didn’t pull their weight.).Take this as a lesson and move on. Your travel problems are not the university or your groups responsibility you chose to live at home so that’s on you in fact your travel woes perfectly illustrate why I always say halls are a better option.
Original post by Anonymous
In our first week of semester two, our new modules started. We were informed about all upcoming assignments/group work by our lecturers. In week one, our lecturer read out the names of each group. She gave everyone the same task with the same deadline. The task was all groups needed to decide whose doing what, then come up with a deadline for each week, we had to use our independent study time to get the deadline met. We also had to do group meetings outside of university.
I live in the Cotsworld and spend typically two hours on public transport getting to and from university. When we had group meetings they would cancel halfway whilst I'm on the train which cost me money. Today was our final assessment deadline, we've finished two weeks earlier then most courses. The lecturer who teaches the module happens to be my academic advisor.
The group presentation went horribly wrong, we all messed up. I do admit I made mistakes. I thought I'd only have to know about my bit as I be talking about the work I did but she told me in a meeting that already was arranged for today that everyone was supposed to know the whole group presentation.
At the end of our group presentation whilst other groups prepared for theirs I heard two members in our group go to others and moan about me saying it's all my fault and I didn't prepare enough for this. This upset me, I spent a lot of time preparing for my tasks, I showed my academic advisor my notebooks and my documents during the tutorial. I'm just upset and I'm questioning if university is for me. I've used my gift year, I've had the worst final day. Sorry for the negatives.

Anon,

Group work is always a learning curve.

Sorry that the presentation did not go as well as you would have liked. Hopefully there will be less group projects next year. Teamwork is a skill for life so even if there are more group projects, hopefully you can take what you have learnt from this one and have a more positive experience.

Finally, don't let one bad day, put you off your goal off achieving your degree! Hopefully in general you are enjoying the course and have met some good people. Do take some time to de-stress and reflect and have a great summer : )

All the best,

Oluwatosin 3rd year student University of Huddersfield
Original post by Anonymous
In our first week of semester two, our new modules started. We were informed about all upcoming assignments/group work by our lecturers. In week one, our lecturer read out the names of each group. She gave everyone the same task with the same deadline. The task was all groups needed to decide whose doing what, then come up with a deadline for each week, we had to use our independent study time to get the deadline met. We also had to do group meetings outside of university.
I live in the Cotsworld and spend typically two hours on public transport getting to and from university. When we had group meetings they would cancel halfway whilst I'm on the train which cost me money. Today was our final assessment deadline, we've finished two weeks earlier then most courses. The lecturer who teaches the module happens to be my academic advisor.
The group presentation went horribly wrong, we all messed up. I do admit I made mistakes. I thought I'd only have to know about my bit as I be talking about the work I did but she told me in a meeting that already was arranged for today that everyone was supposed to know the whole group presentation.
At the end of our group presentation whilst other groups prepared for theirs I heard two members in our group go to others and moan about me saying it's all my fault and I didn't prepare enough for this. This upset me, I spent a lot of time preparing for my tasks, I showed my academic advisor my notebooks and my documents during the tutorial. I'm just upset and I'm questioning if university is for me. I've used my gift year, I've had the worst final day. Sorry for the negatives.

Hi there,

I am sorry to hear that you didn't have a great end to your first year. These things can happen!

Group work can always be tricky as there are times where other members of the group don't pull their weight and can leave you with a heightened sense of responsibility. What I can suggest for next time is make sure that the group is communicating frequently. Have regular check-ins and meetings scheduled so you can all see what is left to do, what needs changing, etc. If it comes down to it, then you can always have a conversation with the academic who set the assignment to make them aware of any difficulties you may be experiencing in the group.

Have a lovely summer break!

Estelle :smile:
Graduate Advocate

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