School projects are never very easy. A lot of times, specifically science ones, they are rather hard. I actually just had one where my partner and had to create a newton scooter; shockingly, I did very well. Although it was incredibly hard.
The first thing to do when you are starting a school project is pick a good partner. It has to be someone that you will get along well with, but won’t be constantly getting off topic with. You need to at least get along with the person, but you can’t be such close friends that you are constantly getting distracted and off track.
Another thing you have to remember is to not focus solely on one idea. If you have more than one option to complete the project, then try all of them. Sometimes focusing on perfecting one thing is very bad, because maybe there is a better idea out there. You always want to step back and take a nice long look at the big picture when you are stuck.
Also, if the project grade is performance- and writeup-based, don’t worry too much if your “performance” doesn’t go as well as you hoped it would. You always have the writeup to be graded on. And if it is just performance-based, then you can start worrying a little. But don’t focus too much on just one grade, it is only a small part of your overall grade.
When splitting up the work, make sure it is even. It would be unfair if you said you would do half of the writeup and then at the last minute threw part of your work on your partner. Typically, I try to get together with my partner to do the actual project part, and then for the writeup I split it up with my partner. I mean, think of it this way, I know it’s nice to not have to do all the work. But it isn’t fun when you are the one doing all the work, it just isn’t fair. Now I know that the world isn’t fair, but I always say that until I get into the real world I’d prefer to keep everything fair.