Invigilate

After all that teaching, the denouement is here: the exams! For my own module, all projects the students have done so far only amount to 40% of the final grade, so these two hours in the Main Arts building will make or break their final score. I hope it will be "make"! I was glad to see some students mailing me with questions in advance. I'm here to help them to get to a knowledgeable state; not all see it that way and steer clear of me, but the smarter ones figure it is no use going into the exam with a confused head. Confusion could always pop up, but if there's something of which you are aware you don't get it, you should sort it out beforehand.

But before I would oversee the exam of my own module, I would assist a colleague in invigilating on his. He had twice the students, so needed twice the invigilators. And that was good; there are all sorts of rules and regulations involved with exams, dealing with when to start and stop, what to do with phones, how to document who's there, what the students do with the exam sheets, anonymity, early starters, sick people, and whatnot. It is not all self-explanatory! I was glad to have seen the process before I had to do it on my own.

The room I invigilated in first

During the first exam I wiled away some time with the module leader, seeing what we would make of each other's questions. About 4 people had contributed to the exam, and some of it consisted of multiple choice questions, so we could easily and silently do these. I was proud to do a whole lot better than this venerable professor! And I probably did better than most of the students; there also were essay questions, and I marked those that dealt with what I'd been lecturing about, and I wished more had stuck. Frustrating to not get to do it next year, and do it better! But that's life.

I haven't marked the exams of my own module yet. I really hope that will be better! As Dave my co-invigilator said; it feels like you're marking yourself...