Examiners mistake affected me. Should I argue about that?

I had an exam and I feel that I was at a disadvantage.

Basically, my exam consisted of Part A (short question answers) and Part B (long essay questions).

During the exam, it was clearly stated on the front cover of the exam paper that Part A has to be written in the spaces provided below the questions. Whereas Part B - in the provided booklet.

Due to my unawareness I wrote Part A in the booklet instead of the limited spaces provided below the questions. However, an invigilator noticed what I was doing and advised me to rewrite Part A in the spaces provided below the questions as this is what the instructions state. It took around 15 minutes of my precious time to do so.

Interestingly, after my exam following the discussion with my fellow classmates I discovered that they also made a similar mistake with Part A. However, one of the invigilators told them (including course rep) that it is okay to write Part A in a booklet and it won't affect the final mark even though the rules clearly say that it has to be written in the spaces provided below the questions.

Therefore, I decided to confront the module leader by myself because I felt that course rep might be biased. So I sent the email with my concerns and it was answered quite ignorantly that I should be more careful, should value this as a learning experience in the future and writing answers for part A was fine either way.

Really? So why an invigilator informed me wrongly and caused me to waste 15 min rewriting? I feel I wasn't able to fully demonstrate my performance and this is not fair.

However, since I'm only in my first year of uni and I just need to pass the module as it doesn't count towards the final grade, should I argue about the injustice? A simple sorry and admitting the mistake would do it but knowing the high ego of Phd people, it feels like this will negatively affect me in the future. What should I do?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 1

dopamine112

Sorry I forgot to add that I was left with insufficient time to answer essay type questions. Answered just 1 out of 2

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

Magistl

They were quite justified in their response, you should be more cautious. Your failure to answer the essay type questions were also on your head, you should manage time more appropriately - Although I imagine you can appeal if they actually made a problem that affected a large quantity of students, not just one.

Reply 3

dopamine112

But the problem is that if the invigilator wouldn't had advised me to rewrite everything then it could have been fine either way.
But now it seems that there was a misunderstanding between invigilators.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 4

jonathanemptage

If it was second or third year I would fight it as it counts however as this is first year as long as you pass I'd let it lie it's not really worth the trouble as long as you pass in first year.

Reply 5

username266003

You made a mistake in the first place. Take responsibility for it, don't blame someone else.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 6

rayquaza17

You really should read the instructions on the front, they're there for a reason.

Reply 7

dopamine112

True, my bad. I shouldn't try finding someone guilty for my mistake.

Thank you folks for your responses.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 8

Mirzaghalib

In my opinion it is your fault for not reading the instructions properly but since it is the first year I suggest to let it go and learn from this mistake. I have just finished my degree and all of the exams we have are 3 hours and only one exam lasts for 2 hours. So me and friend walk in to do the exam and I am stressing because I know of the time constraints but my friend clearly ignored to read the instructions and thought it was an 3 hour exam. He only did 2 question out the 3 and it cost him dearly as this was a final year exam but he is only to blame for that silly mistake.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

Magdatrix >_<

Original post by dopamine112

Sorry I forgot to add that I was left with insufficient time to answer essay type questions. Answered just 1 out of 2

Posted from TSR Mobile

Could you really have written the second essay in a mere 15 minutes, though? I'm sure that those 15 minutes spent rewriting would have been useful but I doubt that anyone can write a good essay in that little time!

I think that if there's any external fault, it lies with that particular invigilator. Invigilators shouldn't comment on people's scripts.

Reply 10

alibee

You'll know in the future that the invigilators don't know anything about the exam specifically. They can read the instructions same as you and beyond that their guess is as good as yours. They're pretty much idiots on the whole I've found.

The sensible thing would have been to have put a note where you should have written your answers explaining where the answers could be found and then move on. So for the future, rely on your own judgement if you make a mistake.

Reply 11

GoingToBurst

You didn't read the instructions, that isn't anyone's fault but yours. You couldn't have written an essay in 15 minutes anyway, so that also isn't anyone's fault. My friend made a similar mistake in our first first year exam, she didn't read the instructions and ended up answering all 4 of the questions in section B of the exam, even though it only required us to answer 2, which meant she didn't have time to answer the 1 question required from section C. She told the invigilator what happened, but they were like "um, that's your problem, read the instructions next time." Moral of the story: read the instructions because academics most likely will not have sympathy for you if you mess up because you didn't read them.

Btw, a little tip for future exams that require writing essays: choose your essay questions then spend 10 minutes writing out an essay plan for each one. If, for whatever reason, you haven't managed your time well and run out of time without answering one of the essays, or you're only part of the way through it, you can score some extra marks from your plan.