I Hate My Exam Paper

As I'm writing this piece, I had done submitted my assignment. In another 2 weeks 'll be sitting for the final exam paper. Oh, how I loathe my final exam paper. 

I never loved any of the final papers even from my bachelor degrees days. The exam weeks were usually packed into 2 weeks, with about 4 to 5 final exam papers that I had to sit. Enduring the weeks was troubling, cramming the paper usually come together with headaches.

But, having the final paper in the pandemic opens a whole new world of hate.

Normally I'd do the final papers with these routine.

1. Read, understand, memories the whole damn thing.
2. Headache, nervous.
3. Enter exam hall.
4. Answer the questions. 
5. Writing, scribbling in my horrid handwriting. 2 hours max.
6. Go back home. Sleep.
7. Sleep very good.
8. Repeat for other papers.

With the whole social distancing, understandably the process have to change. For one, it'll be online and open book exam.

I've spotted a massive red flag. I have never experience a good open book exam. The name itself is a misdirection. Open book exam, as the name suggest will allow us to refers to the text book during the exam. 

Why does the subject allows that for the final paper? 

Mostly because of the answers are not in the book. It's in your mind. Having a deep understanding of the subject will allow you to open the right page. Without it, the book in itself is a useless bound of papers.

The second red flag is the duration of the exam itself. It'll be a window of 24 hours for students to access the exam and send in the answers.

Open book + 24 hours window = A whole lot of extra level difficult questions.

Regardless, I've went through 2 of the final papers with this format already. For most of the preparation parts, I've already tweaked it to suit the new formats.

The most hellish experience was the fact that what was once a 2 hours ordeal have turn to a 12+ hours answering the questions.

Just is just how I would prefer pulling out the plaster on the skin, I would've prefer it to be lightning speed. It may be painful, but it would've been short.

I loathe the time that when I read all the questions but found I didn't understand most of them, so I got to hustle to answer them.

I loathe the time that even after Googling the answer, I'll still unconvinced that the answer is wrong. Check and recheck. Write and rewrite.

I loathe the time that I started to lose focus on the paper, and just didn't give a hoot anymore.

I loathe the time that my bum felt sore after sitting on the chair for more than 12 hours answering the paper.

By the end of the hours, I just accept to forfeit. Even if I spend more time answering the questions, it'll not be the better answers. That was at 10pm. My eyes were already drooping.

All of that experience with the kids running around the room. 

I hate my exam paper. I just do.

Update: I had just done my final paper last week. And I confirmed that I really hate it. The question paper scheduled to be uploaded at 10am. Because of that, I only finished answering all the questions only at 12.30am. 

Tu pun kena lari ke tingkat atas, sebab ada gangguan tikus kat bilik study di tingkat bawah. Aiyoooo