At the time of writing, I’m preparing to sit an exam. Ooh, not so good! I remember when I sat a bunch of exams before, and I vowed: never again! The difference this time, I suppose, is that it’s voluntary – up to a point.
I chose the course. That said, I wish it didn’t feature an exam at the end, because I’ve always felt these events have an “on the day” aspect, meaning it might just all go wrong.
You might have unaccountable blanks for things you normally remember no bother. You might have difficulty getting to the venue. They might not ask the questions on which you’d swotted up. You might be tired. It’s just too chancy.
Exams focus the mind…or not
On the other hand, exams focus the mind and make you really learn the material you’ve merely been noting down all year before.
I must admit it’s been a bind trying to fit in swotting around work. I also had to be away for a bit. And my team was in the cup final, so I couldn’t concentrate on that day. So many excuses.
With a week to go, I haven’t got my swotting right either. I’ve been organising the material into sections but haven’t started memorising anything yet.
Memory: what’s that again? How am I supposed to remember facts when I can’t remember why I came into this room?
A peculiar blessing
The other odd thing this year is that it’s a remote exam, which is a blessing in the sense that I don’t have to spend hours travelling to the nearest exam centre. It’s also peculiar in that, instead of having three hours, we have three days (though, in practice, I’ll only have one).
Not sure I understand this. They ask us to “try” and sit it in three hours, but who’s going to do that? I think I’ll give it a go and then look things up (which we’re also allowed to do: unthinkable in a normal exam).
You’re actually allowed to submit one paper one day, then a better one the next and a best one after that.
When you come to think of it, you’ll still have to present your answers logically and readably, and it’s arguable that there’s no good reason why you should be given just an hour to do this normally.
So, what’s my subject?
You’ll be wanting to know my subject. Well, it’s an Open University course in Advanced Thermo-Nuclear Physics. Always been a wee hobby of mine.
Only joking. Bit dispiriting that not one of you believed that. My subject is kind of historical, kind of linguistic, kind of arty. In other words, no use to anyone. That’s how learning should be.
The course has taken up a massive amount of time every day for nine months, and I’m swithering about whether to continue it next year.
Mind you, it makes you read something improving, rather than idly taking out your ‘Hotspur’ comic from 1948 and reading about Willie Wallop again (see last week’s bombshell column).
If I stick the course out for another couple of years, you’ll have to address me as “Rab, B.A.”. Rabba? Maybe not. There used to be a curry shop near me called that. And I’ve never pretended that I’m hot stuff.
