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Terrible Invigilators

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One invigilator at my school had such a coughing fit in the middle of an exam right at the front of the hall that everyone just stopped working for a good minute and stared as the main invigilator whacked her on the back...

Reply 21

Renacata

You know when men have a pocketful of coins/keys and stand there rattling them?

Yeah. THAT.

(I say 'men' because I've only ever met men who do it, possibly due to the fact that women's clothing doesn't have big enough pockets to rattle anything in.)

There was also one exam where we had loud dance music in the room next door, and there was only one invigilator so she couldn't go and tell them to shut up. She kept looking out of the door, probably to see if there was anyone outside she could get to pass on a message, and texting (I assume the other invigilators)... but nothing happened :angry:

That wasn't her fault, but she shouldn't have been left on her own with us...

Reply 22

Conor-R

The invigilators at my school are quite nice actually apart from the head Invigilator, she's an absolute bitch. She shouts at the other invigilators, it's actually quite amusing come to think of it.

Reply 23

BeccaAnne94

The invigilators at my school like to stand near the front desks talking about their grandchildren, which I've only begun to notice in A-levels as we're in such small groups that I'm always sat near the front! :frown:

.

Last week there was a guy invigilator keeping an eye on about 7 of us in a resit, he wore really squeaky shoes and kept tapping his foot on the floor - he stopped once he noticed that I'd been giving him evils :grr:

Reply 24

milkytea

The only experience I've had where the invigilators really sucked was when I sat the TSA. My college put all the Oxbridge admissions test candidates into the same room. Each test had slightly different timings and rules but the invigilators, who are supposed to be our college's specially-employed exam staff, didn't know any of these specific requirements. As a result there was a 20 minute delay to sort everyone out, which we spent in silence collectively bricking it... I could have dealt with that, but when the woman checked the time on the clock she didn't even read it correctly, and so we had 5 minutes less than we should have to answer the multiple choice questions...

Reply 25

Where'sPerry?

Original post by Harley

Yup, we always have a kettle in both rooms, I never thought it was unusual till now :confused:

Though to be honest 'exam room' is probably a bit much, it's a glorified gym hall with PE teachers constantly passing through carrying badminton rackets while we are sitting the exams :frown:

I think my invigilators probably wish they had a kettle or some other form of amenity, they always look REALLY miserable.

The PE teachers must be incredibly distracting!! My exams take place in the school hall, they just roll away the stands (didn't know what to actually call these, they're like seats on different levels and there are steps to get to them :colondollar:

) and put desks out. There's only a door at the front, so luckily people can't pass through.

Reply 26

overtherainbow

Original post by morecambebay

Ours used to play pac man around the tables. I got a few fired after complaining about it. Might've been harsh of me...but god damn it was annoying.

How did you know that was what they were doing? They are supposed to walk around the room...

Reply 27

mia =)

when i was doing my g.c.s.e's i think it was history (not sure) one of the invigilators decided she got tired so sat at the front on one of the empty exam desks...she started swinging her legs and next thing you know the tables collapsed and shes on the floor, bless her she was so embarresed

Reply 28

XxSarahxX

Original post by Harley

I was inspired to start this thread after sitting prelims over the last few days. Our invigilators seem to have no idea of how to be quiet.

The other day, the higher maths paper finished half an hour before the advanced higher one, and after dismissing the higher students, the two old ladies stood and chatted at the front of the hall with no respect for the rest of us working!

This morning there were about 50 students sitting papers in a mix of subjects, halfway through the exam they start boiling the (noisy!)kettle and making cups of tea :s-smilie:

After that I accidently knocked my sheets of answers onto the floor where they flew under peoples chairs and my answers could have been seen. Invigilator Lady looked up, saw me looking at my sheets that were out of reach, and didn't do anything :frown:

I had to get up and go fetch them back myself, causing a disturbance to people around me.

Haha just realised what a rant this has turned into! :tongue:

Has anyone else had bad invigilators or is it just my school?

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That is completely mental and a kettle in the exam room LOL, but part of me is thinking how can they get away with it because they have these strict rules apparently which they are meant to follow. I have heard though that invigilators play pacman.
Though, what does annoy me most and it has been said previously when they look over your shoulder to see what you are writing. Being an exam is stressful enough without invigilators watching you :mad:

Reply 29

myfriendSQRT(-1)

Reading some of these, I feel really lucky that I don't have to deal with invigilators from hell. All my exams this year have just been this one guy, who sits down and reads a book because there's only like 20 of us in a room. Poor, or inconsiderate invigilators could potentially ruin an exam!

Reply 30

morecambebay

Original post by overtherainbow

How did you know that was what they were doing? They are supposed to walk around the room...

You can tell by the paths that they take and the giant 'were so kewl' grins on their faces.

Reply 31

Zhy

My invigilator always wears a short skirt and heels! In the Summer sometimes she takes them off and puts her feet up on the desk at the front too! God, it's so hard doing a maths exam and every time you look up you see her bare soles and all you think about is licking them...

Reply 32

OakleyReef

English literature, they DID NOT STOP TALKING for 1hr45mins, and i was on the front row :frown:

i complained to our exams officer, and was never on the front row for any other of my exams.

Reply 33

Kidneyjean

I get extra time, and when all the "normal time" people are let out, the invigilators take it as a cue to start talking loudly, right next to you! It's just a bit intimidating when there are only two students and 5 invigilators in the hall, so we haven't plucked up the courage to complain.

There's also another guy, while really nice, has the worst BO I've ever come across. So when he walks between the rows of desks, you can just see students recoiling in a mexican wave down the exam hall... and IT LINGERS. I get that some people may have medical issues, or may be allergic to deodourant, but it's revolting to the point where people get put off their exam.

Reply 34

tufc

There's this really hot invigilator at my college, who's also got an amazing rear. I generally tend to be seated towards the back, and every time she walks past me towards the front, I lose at least 20 seconds watching her from behind :daydreaming:

Reply 35

Alexandra's Box

Original post by GabGirl

Standing behind you while you work ARGHH

Yes! It's so distracting... :rolleyes:

Reply 36

BeccaAnne94

Original post by Kidneyjean

There's also another guy, while really nice, has the worst BO I've ever come across. So when he walks between the rows of desks, you can just see students recoiling in a mexican wave down the exam hall... and IT LINGERS. I get that some people may have medical issues, or may be allergic to deodourant, but it's revolting to the point where people get put off their exam.

Ewwwww. It is a bit off-putting when the invigilators smell funny when they walk past, thoughout my GCSE's we had this one guy who looked like santa but smelled really spicy so everyone ended up referring to him as colonel spicy man. He ended up standing on the stage during my maths exams (I always ended up sitting on the stage for maths) and he spent the whole exam chuckling to himself which was really annoying, and all I was able to smell after the exam was spice :frown:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 37

LanasTea

I had an invigilator with no eyebrows once.

Reply 38

tehforum

Original post by rachel.h

They were terrible at my school. My mum was one too when they were short of people to do it, so she gave me all the insider invigilator info :wink:

I think one of the worst was a 6th Form exam with only the one student sitting the paper and the invigilator sat and yacked away on her phone the entire time. The student managed to ask her to stop, but she went just outside the door and carried on. So the girl reported her to the exams officer, and the invigilator sought out the girl and yelled in her face til she cried.

They also blatantly ignore you when you have your hand up.

Please divulge these insider secrets.

Reply 39

cl_steele

squeaky shoes, sneezing, talking, starring at you, standing behind you so theyre nearly touching you, drumming their fingers ... ahh i hate invigilators -_-