Why aren't you allowed to write your own answers? In many countries, this could be considered discrimination. This is of course assuming that you prefer writing your own answers.

While not essential, it is definitely helpful to work with someone who has taken or any experience with the class you are taking. For example, I took a stats class, and it was helpful to have a transcriber know what I was referring to when I would mention lesser known greek mathematics symbols like sigma or mu. I hope this helps.