what if something goes wrong in exam arrangements?

hi guys, for certain reasons I have a separate room arrangement at university for examinations

I am concerned because ive read a number of posts on this and other websites, about things going wrong, for example some people doing exams in smaller rooms claim the invigilators talk through the exam, or sometimes the invigilator will be late to the designated room he's assigned to, or other things. granted these posts seem to be from people at 6th form so maybe the uni will be more thorough?

Am I worrying too much? are things likely to go wrong or does anyone here have arrangements at uni and are they usually done correctly, thanks all

Reply 1

Chronoscope

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by Rai258

At uni I think its less common that something like this happens.

I did have an unpleasant experience
where in one third year exam, my arrangements weren't met, and honestly idk if the person (invigilator) overseeing my exam was discriminatory or not but what they did was enough to get them sacked, and when I told my academic tutor about them they made a complaint to the exams office on my behalf.

All the other invigilators I had however it was absolutely fine, and literally nothing went wrong :smile:

If the exam arrangements DO go wrong you contact your academic tutor, disability advisor, or the head lecturer for your year/course lead (there's various names but you'll get told this during uni induction). It usually becomes an 'exceptional circumstance'.

When you start uni make sure you contact your uni's disability office ASAP, in advance of your exams to double check any adjustments though :hugs:

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 2

Rai258

Original post by Chronoscope

At uni I think its less common that something like this happens.
I did have an unpleasant experience
where in one third year exam, my arrangements weren't met, and honestly idk if the person (invigilator) overseeing my exam was discriminatory or not but what they did was enough to get them sacked, and when I told my academic tutor about them they made a complaint to the exams office on my behalf.
All the other invigilators I had however it was absolutely fine, and literally nothing went wrong :smile:

If the exam arrangements DO go wrong you contact your academic tutor, disability advisor, or the head lecturer for your year/course lead (there's various names but you'll get told this during uni induction). It usually becomes an 'exceptional circumstance'.
When you start uni make sure you contact your uni's disability office ASAP, in advance of your exams to double check any adjustments though :hugs:

Thanks for your reply!

interestingly im going into my third year this september, and have only just got these arrangements in place. It's purely just for a small private room, so i guess the chances of things messing up would be low lol.

can i ask what actually went wrong, was it that they didnt give you extra time or something? u dont have to answer that btw,

Reply 3

Chronoscope

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by Rai258

Thanks for your reply!
interestingly im going into my third year this september, and have only just got these arrangements in place. It's purely just for a small private room, so i guess the chances of things messing up would be low lol.
can i ask what actually went wrong, was it that they didnt give you extra time or something? u dont have to answer that btw,

Yeah sure thing. They basically didn't believe me when I told them I even though I used a university laptop provided by the exams office I still had extra time (and they tried to deny me of using it 1/2 through the exam, that was even before they clarified with the exams office that yes I was entitled to my extra time!). You'd think a student in a room to themselves would be in there for a reason, right? :sigh:

Annoyingly I had actually received an email with my adjustments on it from the exams office, but unfortunately because the exam was already taking place and I'd already turned my phone off I couldn't show them it :facepalm:

Their phone went off at least 2 - 3 times during my exam, one time was an actual phone call. They asked if I was finished around 20 minutes before the original exam time was over (got the impression they didn't want to be there tbh), and at one point during the exam they quite literally stood right over me whilst I was sitting down, and quite close to me, and they tried to take a note sheet away (my year group had been approved to use a 1 sided A4 piece of paper with notes on to ease us back into doing in person exams after the pandemic). They were also doing everything as slow as possible .

Tbf when I did tell my academic tutor what happened (he's quite high up in my department), he was angry and so was the exams office :yikes: