Memories of Exams

One odd moment I recall from first year came during December exams. It was one of the first exams of the month and it was in a class that nobody really cared about but that many people were forced to take. My section wrote in the gym, so there were tons of students writing. There were a zillion desks and it was really overwhelming when you first walked in.

Anyways, I was about three-quarters through writing and the fire alarm went off. People were confused about what to do at first, but then we were all directed outside. Of course, everyone started talking about what was on the exam and what the answers were. After an hour of standing outside we were allowed back in to finish the exam. It was tough to get back on track after taking a one-hour break, but I managed to get through it.

Afterward, there was talk about what would happen to the exam. I heard stories of other students re-writing exams after such an incident. I even heard about a similar situation a few years earlier at my school where the students were not allowed to come back in after the alarm and they marked the exam out of however many questions you had finished. Fortunately, this time we did not have to rewrite the exam; they just took what we handed in at the end and ignored the fact that everyone had been able to talk about it part of the way through.

I also remember the final exam period of first year. Everyone has their own way of preparing and I tend to get started early so I am not stressed when I have to write. My roommate, however, was not so prepared. I would laugh as I would come back to res late at night from the library, ready to go to bed after a hard day's work. But there was my roommate, just leaving -- bags under his eyes, coffee in one hand, chocolate covered coffee beans in the other -- ready to get in some all-night studying for his exam the next morning. This happened many nights in a row and I would often catch him snoozing at his desk in the afternoon. It didn’t seem to me like the most efficient way of studying, and he would agree; but we both made it through first year. To each his own, I guess.