How To Survive a Group Project

Group assignments are unavoidable as they will crop up during some part or another of your school life, and most definitely in your college years. Someone who has never partaken in such an assignment may think they're a breeze- working with people, dividing the work, making new friends, it all seems so great. Ones who have been in group assignments, however, know exactly how laborious and tiring such projects can be.
Communicate: The biggest challenge will always be regarding communication. There will be a lot of “he didn't”, “she didn't”, “nobody told me” moments unless you communicate with your group members. If you're working with your friends, that usually isn't a problem but more often than not you will have to work with people you don't know too well. If no one seems to be making an effort, you take the first step and ask for the e-mail address or phone number of at least one other person. Do not give your group members a chance to keep you out of the loop.
Be Organised: Divide the work as evenly as possible. Start on the project as early as you can; don't leave it for the last moment. Other people's grades may depend on your work, and you do not want to be responsible for a bad grade. Make sure everyone knows what everyone else is doing. At the very least, make sure you know what is going on with everyone. If you feel that improvements may be made in others' works, let them know. Do not hold onto your opinions and go “I wanted to tell you” when disappointing grades come out. Be open to suggestions and make changes to your work if your team members find it necessary. You will only make things harder by being defensive.
Be Friendly: Try not to get into fights. In the occurrence of a fight between other members, try not to take sides. Sometimes the teacher assigns team “captains.”  This does not give the captain a license to boss his/her mates around. If you are the captain, do not bark orders, but listen to everyone. You'll get more out of your members if you actually talk to them and take in everyone's ideas. Being the captain also does not exempt you from working or give you the right to do all the work by yourself in the hopes of gaining extra credit. It is a group project, and everyone must contribute equally.
The Presentation: Most group works are followed by, or entirely based on, a presentation. All members must know the material in the slides, and not only be restricted to their “part”. Try and rehearse beforehand, give each other tips to try and make your delivery as smooth as possible. Time yourself by making sure you don't talk for ten minutes leaving your other members dividing up a minute among them. If you are the first one to present, introduce your other members or else their glares will follow you everywhere.
Group projects can be stressful and difficult to manage. The best way to approach such projects would be to think of it as waxing your legs: take a deep breath, don't overthink, and just get it over with as quickly and cleanly as possible.
Have fun with it and good luck!