The Student Room Group

Problem: exam over, caught still writing

Ok, i have a sorta problem, or perhaps i'm just being paranoid: i had an exam today, and i continued to write (for like 30secs) despite the end of the exam being announced - one of the invigilators saw me as i was sitting towards the front of the hall, and then told me in a rather aggressive tone to put my pen down. He then proceeded to take down my student ID and name. After we'd been dismissed from the hall, i then found him waiting for me mid-way up the flight of stairs, where he then tried to lecture me further. Right, i thought, i'm not having any of this, i'm clearly being victimised, so i told him 'If you think everybody put their pens down immediately on your saying the exam was over then you're mistaken; there were people in the back of the hall (and it's a v.big one) still writing, yet you chose to pick on me only because i was near, and therefore an easy target' (or i said something to that effect). Then he gets angry at starts saying something about something.

Anyway, so he took my details down, and i don't think he likes me very much after the encounter on the stairs, so he'll probably try and write to the board and use it against me. The thing is, it wasn't like i explicitly did anything wrong, he clearly said 'Please finish the sentence you are on and put your pens down' - i didn't even get the chance to finish the damn sentence. Furthermore, in other exams i've noticed how people still write despite the exam being over, and nothing, absolutely nothing.

I mean, i think he'll probably write to the exam board (the examiner is just that kind of person, with nowt better to do than make students' lives worse!) so should i take some sort of action, like speak to the principal or something? Even if he did write to OCR, would they do anything? Or am i being unnecessarily paranoid?

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Reply 1

Well you probably shouldn't have gotten shirty with him but I guess under the circumstances I would've done the same.
I agree, a lot of people continue to write, I've done it a few times (and there's been a few times when the invidulators are a bit dumb and don't realise the exam should've finished like 3 minutes ago!! That's always funny) but no-ones ever said anything to me...

If they took your details down then I'd be a bit worried but probably nothing'll come out of it cos the exam board will be too busy with other stuff.. why worry about someone writing 30 secs after it finished?

I reckon you'll be alright, don't worry too much about it

Reply 2

billster
Ok, i have a sorta problem, or perhaps i'm just being paranoid: i had an exam today, and i continued to write (for like 30secs) despite the end of the exam being announced - one of the invigilators saw me as i was sitting towards the front of the hall, and then told me in a rather aggressive tone to put my pen down. He then proceeded to take down my student ID and name. After we'd been dismissed from the hall, i then found him waiting for me mid-way up the flight of stairs, where he then tried to lecture me further. Right, i thought, i'm not having any of this, i'm clearly being victimised, so i told him 'If you think everybody put their pens down immediately on your saying the exam was over then you're mistaken; there were people in the back of the hall (and it's a v.big one) still writing, yet you chose to pick on me only because i was near, and therefore an easy target' (or i said something to that effect). Then he gets angry at starts saying something about something.

Anyway, so he took my details down, and i don't think he likes me very much after the encounter on the stairs, so he'll probably try and write to the board and use it against me. The thing is, it wasn't like i explicitly did anything wrong, he clearly said 'Please finish the sentence you are on and put your pens down' - i didn't even get the chance to finish the damn sentence. Furthermore, in other exams i've noticed how people still write despite the exam being over, and nothing, absolutely nothing.

I mean, i think he'll probably write to the exam board (the examiner is just that kind of person, with nowt better to do than make students' lives worse!) so should i take some sort of action, like speak to the principal or something? Even if he did write to OCR, would they do anything? Or am i being unnecessarily paranoid?


You could just ask him what he's doing, and apologise to him (I know that may not be much fun, but what more important; pride or a-levels?).

Plus, are you sure he said "Please finish the sentence you're on and put your pens down"? Examiners are strictly told to say you must stop straight away -well that is according to our history teacher (whilst trying to emphasise the importance of not carrying on writing after the end).

Reply 3

iisism
Well you probably should'nt have gotten shirty with him but I guess under the circumstances I would've done the same.
I agree, a lot of people continue to write, I've done it a few times (and there's been a few times when the invidulators are a bit dumb and don't realise the exam should've finished like 3 minutes ago!! That's always funny) but no-ones ever said anything to me...

If they took your details down then I'd be a bit worried but probably nothing'll come out of it cos the exam board will be too busy with other stuff.. why worry about someone writing 30 secs after it finished?

I reckon you'll be alright, don't worry too much about it



I know, under any other circumstance i'd view this as trivial, but the examiner's tone and expression said it all, he's out to get me! :mad: Our school's exam inviligators aren't even teachers, they just come in randomly when exam period is upon us.

Reply 4

Well I kept writing after my Physics exam. The invigilator saw me, but did nothing about it because everyone else was still writing! You can't really write that much in 30 seconds, though, can you?

Reply 5

kingslaw
You could just ask him what he's doing, and apologise to him (I know that may not be much fun, but what more important; pride or a-levels?).

Plus, are you sure he said "Please finish the sentence you're on and put your pens down"? Examiners are strictly told to say you must stop straight away -well that is according to our history teacher (whilst trying to emphasise the importance of not carrying on writing after the end).


If he was a nice person i'd have no problem with apologising, but i really did feel properly affronted by his reaction, especially with his shouting whilst half the hall were still doing a different exam. Yup, he says it all the time: 'please finish the sentence, pens down' ... but i'll see if he says it at my next exam.

Reply 6

billster
I know, under any other circumstance i'd view this as trivial, but the examiner's tone and expression said it all, he's out to get me! :mad: Our school's exam inviligators aren't even teachers, they just come in randomly when exam period is upon us.


Well I guess the only thing you can do is take kingslaw's advice and try and find the exam and apologise. Otherwise you'll keep thinking about it...

Reply 7

glance
Well I kept writing after my Physics exam. The invigilator saw me, but did nothing about it because everyone else was still writing! You can't really write that much in 30 seconds, though, can you?


I had only wanted to write '...amino acids for protein synthesis' but i didn't even finish the 'for'. :frown:

Reply 8

sorry double posted

Reply 9

Kill him.

Reply 10

iisism
Well I guess the only thing you can do is take kingslaw's advice and try and find the exam and apologise. Otherwise you'll keep thinking about it...


.... i couldn't trust myself not to go off on one at the unfairness at it all again, if i had to speak to him again ... teachers will probably side with the inviligator, won't they?

Reply 11

Hmm.. the sleep deprivation if probably just making me paranoid, i'm sure the exam board won't give two tosses about it, i mean, i'm not even sure the exam started precisely minute-for-minute when it should have, so in principle that time was owing. And i did manage to answer everything else on the paper to an acceptable level of quality (i hope!).... argh.

Reply 12

billster
.... i couldn't trust myself not to go off on one at the unfairness at it all again, if i had to speak to him again ... teachers will probably side with the inviligator, won't they?


You just have to apologise, or at least ask him what he's doing about it. If its the worst case scenario and he has asked for it to be marked down or whatever, wouldn't you rather know now whilst you can do something about it rather than seeing a great big U on results day, when its too late?

Also, the guy seems to be kinda person who likes to know his write. Just say you know you were wrong and apologise. If that fails, then turn on the waterworks and talk about how hard you worked for these exams - no-one likes to see a grown man or girl cry (I dont know your sex...sorry!).

Reply 13

billster
.... i couldn't trust myself not to go off on one at the unfairness at it all again, if i had to speak to him again ... teachers will probably side with the inviligator, won't they?


I dunno, depends if your teachers like you I guess!
I think in circumstances like these you really have to just bite your tongue and apologise.
But... personally, I think I'd just leave it :/ I dunno really, just do what you think is the best option

Reply 14

use a knife, thats if u kill him.

Reply 15

iisism
I dunno, depends if your teachers like you I guess!
I think in circumstances like these you really have to just bite your tongue and apologise.
But... personally, I think I'd just leave it :/ I dunno really, just do what you think is the best option

I'd suggest going to see your school's examinations officer - usually a teacher. Any complaints would have to go through them - ask their advice as to what you should do. The invigilator might have been trying to make a point but not taken it further.

Reply 16

The entire thing is f****ed up :mad: I need to sleep, perhaps the answer will come to me in a dream... Failing that i'll go in on Monday and see what the teachers think. It's ruined my day this has, it was my last bio exam and i would've thought it went rather well, if it weren't for this incident... argh...

Reply 17

no, there are many other ways (not involving violence)
Bribe him

Reply 18

Geogger
I'd suggest going to see your school's examinations officer - usually a teacher. Any complaints would have to go through them - ask their advice as to what you should do. The invigilator might have been trying to make a point but not taken it further.


I agree. You probably shouldn't have answered back to him on the stairs, but you have to make the point that he said 'finish the sentence you are on' and you were doing just that. Like Geogger says, go to the examinations officer, they will know what to do if the invidulator did say something against you :smile:

Reply 19

neha p
I agree. You probably shouldn't have answered back to him on the stairs, but you have to make the point that he said 'finish the sentence you are on' and you were doing just that. Like Geogger says, go to the examinations officer, they will know what to do if the invidulator did say something against you :smile:


I think the dude may indeed have been the chief exams officer, because he's definitely not a teacher. What annoys me is that, in addition to shouting at me in the silent exam hall, he felt it necessary to further harass me on the stairs.