Tuesday, February 6, 2007

How NOT to sit an exam......

I recently sat my propery law exam and I think it proceeded a little like a monty python skit.

1. As I have an old RSI injury I type exams rather than write them. I was in Dr Muawia's office, the venue for the exam. I had a computer which I had tested the day before for keyboard, mouse use etc. Unfortunately I did not check it for "unexpected, unexplained reversion to arabic without notice". So I was typing away and i looked up and the last 5 mins was all in arabic. With Dr Muawia's help I tried to fix it, but to no avail. So I had to start again, hand writing it. This did nothing to alleviate my anxiety levels I can assure you... But really, there was little I could do about it.

2. As I mentioned, I was in Dr Muawia's office, he is the head of school. As a result of being in his office and his position there were numerous knocks at the door, phone calls and general interruptions. One student just kept coming back, really it was like an open office policy. People wandered in and out, chatting, laughing. Finally Dr Muawia went outside the door to handle his questions.

3. Unfortunatley while he was outside a courier arrived. I tried to explain that I was in an exam, but of course he spoke no English! After wasting 10 mins on the exchange in then end I left my exam paper, accepted and signed for delivery of the parcel, and then got back to the intricacies of Adverse Possesion.

4. The tea lady came in at one point with a cup of coffee for me and asked me if I wanted anything to eat! Again, no english. I tried to say no but some milk would be great. Of course, no communication was possible. So in the end no coffee, no food and another 10 mins gone!

Look overall it was a bit of a disaster. Dr Muawia did his best, but really we are in Sudan, not Australia and the rules of things are just different. I am not sure how to feel, I sort of feel like laughing Really, it could be a training video, "how not to conduct an exam"...

Anyway, it is done, I am not sure my experiment with external study in third world countries went quite according to plan....c'est la vie!