Exams

So after the Geography exam that we had before Christmas we really weren’t sure what to expect from the proper exam season. So we headed to exams with something else to be uncertain of, aside from the exam content. First things first, there is seemingly no standard format for exams, every single one that I have had so far has been different.

The first exam that I sat we were given a photocopy of a question paper, although the date at the top had been tip ex’d out and replaced with this year, perhaps this is why we can’t get hold of old exam papers, are they recycled every year? If you can find anyone who has taken the class the year before you then it may be worth talking to them to get an idea about what to expect with the exam. We were also given several blank sheets of plain paper, no lines, which is different. Try as I might my essay answers were scrawled in varying sizes of script at some very strange angles across the page – hopefully marks aren’t deducted for presentation. Perhaps in future I will take in my own lined paper, for familiarity. For this exam we sat wherever we liked, with no regard for spaces between us, very different to the equally spaced desks that I am used to for exams. During the exam the lecturer was happy to answer questions from students and joke with them, one student even left the room for a while to answer a phone call and at one point the lecturer just vanished for several minutes, it was bizarre, no one seemed to be taking it seriously. Of course you were welcome to leave whenever you pleased, which was good to hear. Although the length of an exam isn’t very clear, we were told to take as long as we like, but Kath sat down for an exam that she expected to last two hours and was told thirty minutes in that there was only ten minutes remaining, there is no rhyme nor reason to it.

 The second exam was different again, this time we were encouraged to sit towards the front of the classroom with a free seat between each of us. At the start the lecturer seemed intent on catching out anyone attempting to cheat, removing notes from people and challenging them having their phones close to hand, although as soon as they argued that they needed them to keep an eye on the time they were allowed to keep them. We were told to take as long as we liked on the exam, so at least we weren’t to be cut off after forty minutes. But then the lecturer proceeded to read out the exam questions, at this point I panicked, what was this? What if I took down a word wrong then didn’t know what it was and had to look it up in the dictionary but it wasn’t there because I spelt it wrong or what if it was a totally different word and meant something totally different so I answered the question completely wrong? By the time that this had passed through my head the first question had been repeated twice, oh no, but surely she would write it down on the board? Don’t be so ridiculous. I scribbled down the question at the top of my paper, it was mercifully short. I was more prepared for the second question, which was much longer, thank goodness I wasn’t waiting for this one to be written down, I needed the several times that it was read out to get it all down. I half expect her to then read out the poem that we were expected to analyse, but we were given a hard copy of that – thank goodness.

By the time I reached my third exam I was feeling a bit more confident, when the blank sheets of paper were passed to me I was prepared for it. After putting my name at the top of the page and ERASMUS in massive letters (just in case my level of Spanish didn't give it away) I was ready to hear the questions, although I did get quite distracted because we were on the slightly angled desks, which meant that every time I let go of my pen or ink bottle they slid down the desk towards the floor - my reflexes were quite quick by the end of the exam, and so thankfully nothing was broken. When the lecturer read out the questions, or rather just statements 'Las Cortes de Cádiz' being one of them, I mean what am I expected to write for that?! But at least I knew something about that subject so resolved to answer that one with a long answer including everything I could possibly relate to the subject. With the next two questions I was out of luck, I didn't hear what the lecturer was saying, so copied down what I thought he said, but couldn't find half of the words in the dictionary anyway, luckily the words I did here were enough for me to know I couldn't have attempted those questions anyway. The final question/statement I heard just fine, but that didn't mean that I had much to write about it. The lecturer this time chose to prowl around the room for a while, then lurk behind the back row for almost half an hour, before sitting at the front and getting on with some marking. After an hour and a half of trying to squeeze every last drop of knowledge from my brain I conceeded defeat and headed to the front to hand in my papers and make a quick exit from the exam room.

My final written exam began at 9am, so no last minute cramming in the library, but I am not sure that any amount of last minute cramming would have helped me with this exam, I was doomed to fail before I even began it. In the exam room after asking people to move further forward and getting no response whatsoever, the lecturer explained the exam, we had to pick a novel, then answer the following two questions about that novel, only they weren't questions, rather statements. Unfortunately for me I had no idea what the second one was, nowhere had it appeared in my revision, despite me revising the two topics indicated by the lecturer. As the lecturer was writing the question on the board for us to read around 10 students entered the room 15 minutes late and still chattering away which was quite strange, they did not seem fussed by the exam conditions at all, the lecturer explained the questions again then silence descended on the room. The lecturr sat at the front and busied herself with work, ignoring the class until someone handed in their papers, I had long given up on things to write by this point so once someone else had left I took my chance and was out of there as soon as possible.

So – I’ll let you know any further variations on exams, so hopefully you are a little more prepared than I was! Try not to let it all phase you focus on the exams, all of which so far Erasmus students have been allowed a dictionary for. Also, results seemed to be going up on Campus Virtual very quickly after the exams, some only taking a couple of days instead of the three weeks that was given as the guideline. So you may want to keep an eye on that, although finding out some results mid exam season may have a negative effect on your productivity levels.