Test Attitude

At the end of every semester, we have to provide a convincing answer to this standard question: Why are there so many failures? Would you really like to know the reaons? Well, everyday #$@&*^% classroom behaviours aside, this is how they behave during a class test! (read on...)

At 8am I arrived at the class, about half the class were already there, most were hanging outside of the classroom, talking, joking, fiddling with their phones, idling. One of them was sitting in the room in semi-darkness, flipping his newspaper. I went into the class and switched on the lights and air-conditioner. Those who were idling outside entered the class and found themselves seats. Books, files, bags, newspapers etc were strewn all over the empty tables around the students. I had to remind them several times that I do not want to see anything on the tables except stationery - and still, the newspapers were still there on the tables! I am beginning to hate the sight to newspapers in classrooms. When I finally managed to get them to keep their stuff off the tables, I distributed the question papers. Even then some were still turning left, right and back, and whispering around. I had to warn them to keep quiet (gosh as if they do not know they're supposed to shut the hell up during a TEST!)

Test began at 8.15am. At 8.20 a few more came strolling in, dumped their bags on the unoccupied tables, and came straight to me to take question papers. What - they expect me to hand them the questions whilst their books and notes are lying openly on the tables? Argh! There were still students arriving for the test all the way until about 8.30am. By then, most of them were in the class already - except for one. That one - never turned up at all.

During the test, there were questions posed by the students which I do not know if actually required an answer. One of the questions goes "Write one statement to ..." ("one statement" was actually printed in bold) and a guy asked me "Miss," pointing to the question, "This one means write one statement ar?" I answered "Yes", but the actual answer I really wanted him to have was a slap. Most of the rest were simply moping over or staring blankly at their papers. The test was a 100-minute one, but before the 60th minute was over, someone had given up, submitted his answers and left. Cool. About half an hour before the end of the test, a guy sitting in the last row got up abruptly and left the room. I didn't even have the time to stop him (he was sitting right next to the door). I went to his table and took a look at his answer sheets there, and it was quite apparent that he was not ready to submit them yet - so he probably just needed to go to the toilet. I waited for the guy to return - which he did, a couple of minutes later, and got to his seat oblivious to the fact that I was staring at him. I asked him where he went, and he said the toilet. I asked him if he felt that he needn't inform his lecturer first, and he didn't answer - just looked a little sheepish. At this point, another insolent idiot sitting just in front of the toilet-goer actually laughed out. It wasn't loud, but it was audible. And the toilet-goer gave a little laugh himself, as if the whole scene was supposed to be amusing. I glared at him harder and asked him if he thought it was all very funny, and he said no, and then resumed answering the test questions with a straight face. All through the interview, he did not mention the word "sorry". Bet he was not the least remorseful, and still thought he had every right in the world to walk out of an exam venue as he pleased.

End of test - some submitted 3 pages of answers (with 2 half-pages scratched out and blanks lines here and there); some submitted 2 pages, some only a single page. Some of the single-page answers had only writing on half the page.

Now you have your reasons.