Academic lifestyle: exams, part 1: old school rules

Self-tutoring about the academic lifestyle: the tutor recalls exam rules.

When I was a kid, university exams were serious business. The first couple of years, the finals were often in the gym, with rows and rows of desks filling up the whole place. The rows went widthwise, and I sometimes wondered how many desks actually were there. Perhaps there might have been 800 or more. Each desk at the head of a row had a number hanging in front of it.

The rules of engagement for those exams were interesting, and you learned them by watching others. First, you had to leave your bag in the foyer (a huge mountain of backpacks would form there), then walk down a short corridor to the gymnasium. In there, you would tell an usher your course and show them your student card. They would point you to a row: you would walk along the fringe until reaching it, then another usher would assign you a seat. You would sit there and put everything you planned to use on the desk – your calculator, pencils, erasers, pens, and student card. Your student card had to be placed, face-up, at the top left corner of the desk. The ushers were militant. Some I think were students (probably senior level), while others were professors, including my own. They patrolled, even before the exam.

In that context, I don’t think you were allowed to bring in a water bottle – nobody carried them back then, anyways. Washroom breaks, needless to say, weren’t allowed either. I can’t recall any hats rule, but I can’t recall anyone wearing a hat inside. People didn’t wear ball caps indoors back then, anyway, so it may not have come up.

Washroom-wise, there was some strategy involved. My ceremonial last coffee had to be over and done with an hour before the exam started. I couldn’t drink any fluids after that, until the exam was over.

You were advised to show up as much as half an hour before the exam, and some people did. I came to find the sweet spot was to enter the building 25 minutes before the exam, drop off my bag, hit the washroom, etc, then be entering the gym around 17 minutes before the exam was scheduled to begin – no later than that. (The ushers remained nonjudgemental at that point, but I wouldn’t have wanted to face them any later.) You’d be in your seat by fifteen minutes before the exam started, put your things out on your desk, then watch the rest of the exam writers arrive. I think that, at 17 minutes before, about 40% of students had yet to arrive. It was fun watching them file in and be seated. High on the walls were those old analog clocks, which you could watch wind down to start time.

At the start time, an usher would take charge of several rows: they would stand at the front and yell, in a very loud voice so everyone could hear, the instructions. The first thing they would say: “Don’t turn over your exam until you are told to do so.” Other ushers would start placing tests, face-down, one on each desk.

“Once you’re told to begin, read the instructions carefully on the front page,” the usher at the front would continue. “No talking or sharing any supplies – or else you will get a zero….” There were a lot of ways to get a zero, most of which didn’t involve giving wrong answers.

Because of last-minute arrivals and then the instructions being given, the exam couldn’t start at the official start time. In smaller contexts it could, but not in the gymnasium scenario. A 9am scheduled start time would translate to starting around 9:07am. This time was written, by the usher, on a mobile white board at the front. I always wondered if the people at the very back of the row could see it. I always ended up in the middle of the row, and could.

Interestingly, you couldn’t leave during the first half hour. I don’t know why they had that rule, but it was firm.

One of my favourite parts of the situation was that the “started at” time became, after about an hour, a “time remaining” sign. Next, it would be updated at 2hr – “one hour left” – then at 2hr30, next at 2hr45, and every 5min until 3hr. I loved that sign.

My style was that it took me a long time to get focused. I would accomplish almost nothing the first half an hour, but be moving along by 1 hour in. The second hour I would continue gaining momentum, and by two hours in I would be 80-85% done the exam, moving confidently. 2hr30min in I would be all but finished. I would take a ceremonial break 2hr35min-2hr40min, when I would look at the various clocks around the gymnasium, the rows of students, and ushers. The usher nearby would notice me doing so, but wouldn’t comment. They knew I was too far away from anyone else to see their answers, and could tell I wasn’t interested anyway.

You could leave early by raising your hand and getting an usher’s attention who would collect your test. I never did that. I always waited until the “time’s up” shout from the front, at which time my test would sit, closed, at my desk. The usher would methodically walk the aisle, collecting the tests, and eventually mine. I always waited until they were well away – two or three students past me – before I collected my things off the desk. Then, I’d stand up and join a river of people flowing out of the gym.

Exiting the gym, and back in the foyer, it was time to collect my bag. I would stand back, because at first mine would be completely buried. Other students would walk past, grab theirs, and leave, until mine was among a few dozen left. It never seemed to look the same as how I’d pictured it.

I loved those exam times, but I guess not everybody did.

I thought restrictive situations like that were no longer enforceable, but perhaps that’s not the case. I will follow up on some “modern rules.”

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.