Final exams are almost here and most students are either freaking out about the exams or projects that they have to do.

However, final exams should be the way to test students on their knowledge of the entire course instead of assigning a final project.

It is scary to think that your final grade rests in the hands of other people that you don’t really know and even if you do your part of your project, there is still a chance you will get an incomplete.

Projects are almost always designed for people to work in groups, but the same thing always happens when it comes to getting the project done.

There is the person that takes the lead and breaks down how things are going to go from here on out and he will make sure that everyone knows that everything will be done his way.

He is needed when it comes to getting the group started, but could end up becoming too hands-on with everything that the group is doing.

When you have someone in charge, there is always the person that disagrees with any topic the group decides to discuss.

This person will find ways to refute what people have to say as long as he gets his two cents into the conversation.

Then, you have the slacker or flake of the group that only seems to find a way to show up to class without doing any of the work that the group has to do.

He must be constantly reminded of what the plan is and what he has to do, but he is always willing to get a conversation going about something that is completely irrelevant to the project

The next person is the one whose schedule never seems to be able to match up no matter what time you guys agree on.

There is always a family party going on or he seems to work every single hour of his life with no chance of getting time off in the near future.

However, there are positive people in the group that always find their way into your group that keep to themselves for the most part.

These people are often quiet until you find their hidden talent, then they become your best friend because of their expertise in making a PowerPoint presentation.

The rest of the people are willing to follow along with anything that is going as long as they can go with the flow and there are no bumps in the road.

Yes, group projects help you work with other people and help you develop social skills, but it shouldn’t help determine if you pass or fail a class.

You and you alone should be the one to prepare for the most important part of a class because you are the one that decides on your future.