Partner Problems + Motivation

[eagerlearner102]

It is already December and I feel impatient because I haven't properly met with my partner and studied together. I have talked to them about their progress but I doubt that they started studying. I feel bad saying this, but one of them didn't even know what was CRISPR in November for Protein Modeling. I had to show them what the CBM website was about so they clearly didn't take the initiative to to some independent research. I was quite disappointed. My school is a no name team so Science Olympiad is treated as something on the side.
I am not aware of what my partners progress is, but how can I motivate my partners? I notice that a lot of the forums online talk about their stories about their partners in a bad way without trying to resolve the problem. This forum is more for suggestions on resolving these partner problems.
I think that once I do a formal study session with them, they may feel the peer pressure to be productive and study. Maybe they will take it more seriously a few weeks later.
Should I just accept the fact and study everything? Personally, I can't help myself to study and do everything (cheat sheet, building, tests). I think that will take off a lot of pressure. I might as well not get into any arguments with my parters and do all the studying.

[MissAmargasaurus]

Have you tried using Trello with your partners? That might be a good way to see how they are progressing, and they might be motivated too if they see updates from you on there. I find it works best with ID binder events though, where the checklist function is utilized the most in my case. But I think it would still be useful to you as a way to share resources with your partners and assign tasks! I think if someone isn't passionate about Science Olympiad in general though, it'll be hard to motivate them. It's still good that you want to encourage them to be more motivated instead of immediately jumping to carrying the event. I hope that later on they get more into it!

[eagerlearner102]

My team thinks that using these sites add more noise so we have just stuck to email.
You are right about the motivation part.
I set a study break session during winter break so I hope they change their minds.