*By Olaniyi Aderuku*
Examination is that one challenge that no student ever wishes to encounter. The quest to excel puts us on our toes; many students spend considerably large amounts of time studying.
A sad part, however, is that most of the time, we tend to forget things we have read as soon as we set eyes on the question papers. The tension rises, we begin to sweat profusely, our hearts begin to palpitate. In order to overcome this embarrassing moment, many people plan ahead: The brave ones go in with micro-mini or maxi chips; the chickenhearted depend on friends, instead. When both fails, here are the likely symptoms:
He/she smiles at people indiscriminately: When a student exhausts everything his brain could accommodate before an examination and there are still unanswered questions, everyone around him begins to look so exciting. S/he smiles and greets other candidates who are even several meters away from where the individual is seated. Whenever I witness such an activity, the only that comes to my mind is that someone's mind has gone solo.
It happened to me recently. My mind went vague then I started gisting with someone seating 4 seats behind me (not requesting for answers) and the exam was still on. When the invigilator came and seized my script, it didn't bother me because I knew I was empty at the time. I waited about 10 minutes before going for my script. It was just a technique to help me relax my mind.
His/her clothing begins to feel uncomfortable: This one happens so frequently. Often times you find a guy unbuttoning his shirt, or removing his shoes, fiddling with his wristwatch, trying to cut threads that lull around on his clothes. The ladies do this too, they begin to fiddle with their hair, earrings, they remove and "rewear" wristbands continously. The reason for this? Since the hand can't get busy with the pen, it shouldn't be left idle, I think.
He finishes way too early: Am I the only one who thinks it's completely impossible to finish a theoretical undergraduate examination under one hour and write something meaningful? Even if the questions get exposed before the exam day, you would still have to spend ample time in the hall if you must write something that would earn the individual good grades. The only exception could be those who are supposed to be writing another paper at the same time.
He pays too much attention when an invigilator is talking to someone else: Now, there's nothing to write. The invigilator has come to the rescue by talking to another candidate. Of course, our blank student has no choice than to look on till the whole drama ends. When the invigilator cracks a dry joke, s/he would laugh. Nobody wants to appear completely idle in an exam hall, it's embarrassing.
He/she falls asleep: These ones have morals. They would prefer to fail honourably than to carry chips or talk to people. I don't believe there's any such thing as failing honourably in examination parlance.
For the people within this group, when it appears that there's nothing to write again, they sleep! They prefer sleeping to submitting early. Sometimes, they even sleep and drool saliva from their mouth.
Those are just a few of the things that you find students doing when they get empty. It happens to everybody. Nobody is immune. Whenever I get caught up in this embarrassing situation, I simply start observing my environment to generate story ideas.
*_Aderuku is an undergraduate of the Department of Mass Communication, JABU. He can be reached via 0703 834 3521; @olaniyiaderuku._*