University student arriving at exams without the right equipment, one even forgot his pen

I saw this in Facebook. It was posted by a bored invigilator. Exam hall bingo!

A very valid comment DrWatson, but I think it might be helpful for you to comment on the Palestinian/Israel threads as there are many Gransnetters who seem to me to be very concerned about the war in Gaza but have little interest in ongoing wars in other parts of the world.

I see a reference to pro-Palestine demos spreading to Oxford? Perhaps anyone supporting them, or at the various Uni demos in USA, could be asked who the hell they 'think' (if ever) might be taking an interest? The chances of the Iranian Govt, the Israeli Govt, or Hamas, looking at our news bulletins and thinking they should change course would be, what, slim? If not, er, why not?

IF they're actually on demos to complain about the existence of Israel at all, sorry, that ship sailed many decades ago. We could debate the circs of forced Jewish migration from about the 1880s through much of the 20th century, but most countries in Europe, and Russia of course, are at least partly to blame. Judaism in general has caused far less genocide than any other major faith (I'm not religious), and Jerusalem (clue is in the name?) existed a couple of thousand years before Christ.

Anyone protesting should be questioned (as one comment at least suggests) to check if they ALSO have been attending demos for 12+ years, to protest the genocide in Syria by the maniac Assad and his chum Putin, or to protest the ongoing civil war in Sudan, and if they are a little older, did they do any demos against Saddam, while he was busy bumping off over 2 million assorted Muslims, plus Kurds and Marsh Arabs?

I think so many are 'wrapped up in cotton wool' these days they don't learn to think for themselves. Goodness knows how some will cope in the work place

When they start in the workplace they nowadays develop "mental health" issues as a way of coping so everyone else has to tiptoe around the little darlings.

Should they be going to university at all. I bet they would not have forgotten their phone if it was allowed.

Pupils are given lots of help for exams in most schools, starting when in year 7. They are taught to read the instructions , have the equipment and so on. The trouble is that sometimes they think the regulations apply to everyone else and not to them, backed up by parents who believe that their child is always right.

JdotJ

Fail to prepare
Prepare to fail

My OH says this! He was in the Royal Navy for 20 years.

Two of my grandchildren are at uni and they are both very conscientious. The only problem now is they can’t have lunch outside in peace because of the demonstrators who aren’t even members of the uni but ‘free speech’ lets them camp out all night and disrupt everyone’s lives.

I hope no Gransnetter finds themselves in a hospital with one of these ill prepared students, now having been given a bit of leeway as someone said, and that ill prepared student is now an ill prepared medic!
Think about it! They need to grow up and be responsible, not given leeway. They’re not children!

RakshaMK

My son started University in September. Since before he started school I'd had concerns about his behaviour. Everyone dismissed me - school, health visitor, GP...
He's now been diagnosed (privately) with Dyspraxia and ADHD.
These conditions ruined his school life Dyspraxia affected his executive function (remembering to hand in homework, or take equipment to exams).
It's not always being lazy, or not thinking, sometimes it's a recognised condition that they can get help for.
He's very happy at University now he's getting support, and doing well.

This is what my son has and I get it. We had terrible trouble trying to even read what he needed to do for homework as his writing was so bad from the the dyspraxia and not every teacher was accommodating enough to fill in his homework diary so we could read it. The ADHD is bad enough but combined with Dyspraxia and EDS, it is a struggle without good support.
Some of the children who turn up with nothing, probably don't have the sort of parents who provided them with what they need either. I've helped students who haven't been able to have adequate sleep, have been poorly fed and live in totally chaotic families so they need all the help they could get if they got as far as taking exams.

Calendargirl

Even if they are escorted to the loo, surely they can grab a quick look at an answer on their phone whilst in there?

I assume the ‘escort’ doesn’t actually go in the cubicle with them!

They are not allowed phones in exams. It’s taken very seriously if anyone is found to have their phone.

I now invigilate in a secondary school where I worked before I retired. We provide equipment for those who don't have everything but sometimes by the end of an exam series we are running out of some items as the students take pens and don't return them at the end etc. The local school where my children studied doesn't supply anything so the students have to be organised. One of my fellow invigilators was complaining about this as her granddaughter attends that school, but I think it is the right approach. As others have said by GCSE and Alevel they should be capable of turning up with basic equipment including a spare pen in case the first one runs out! Obviously there are students whose parents struggle to provide equipment but they are helped by the school all the time. They just have to remember to bring everything they have been given.
I'm also shocked by how many students need to use the toilet during an exam, but can't help wondering if they have notes written on their bodies under their clothes as a way of cheating!

Give them the pencil case etc and they'll forget that too. Not all are spoonfed but, and awful lot are. If they don't have equipment, sorry, they don't sit the exam. Woukd they turn up for a driving test without a vehicle. Actually, wouldn't be surprised if some would unless the helicopter adult was on duty.

southwestgran

Our granddaughter has no lectures at all this term. I’d like to ask just what she’s paying for with her massive student loan!

Does she have some independent project to complete? That will have to be marked and moderated, which takes hours.

Hi All, I don't often post on GN, but I must tell you what I regularly said to Mum's who rushed into the junior school where I worked in the front office, waving junior's forgotten homework, which she was then expecting me to hand deliver, mid lesson, to her little darling (!!) "your job, as a parent, is to teach them to be independent" That is the crux of the matter, surely? I'm retired now and encouraging my DDIL to teach the grandchildren independence too! It never ends does it! Hey ho! They'll learn eventually - the phrase "rods for their own backs" often comes to my mind! Happy days.

where i work we put packs together for those that forget

southwestgran

Our granddaughter has no lectures at all this term. I’d like to ask just what she’s paying for with her massive student loan!

Maybe, depending on her degree she has independent study/ personal project/ dissertation/ practicals/ seminars etc?
Not all university is lectures.

Examination skills are largely an exercise in administration, time management and memory.

I took the pill throughout my uni finals to make sure I had no periods or period pains to distract me. I was not going to allow some crappy bodily function to cheat me out of the first I had worked for.

Germanshepherdsmum

In my day - 60s- there were grades 1 to 6 before you failed (7).

and then degrees of failure, 7, 8, 9, then unclassified.
i know as that;s what i got in maths o-level.
the first time, at school, hardly any teaching went on and perhaps one trained teacher.
who left after a short time. and not maths.
it was not the acme of academe.
some years later, i took maths as a private student; by then it had changed to A,B,C being passes.
i was pleased to get a middle pass, B.
the first exam was in a london town hall, v good staff, calm atmosphere, big assembly room, spacious, airy, large clocks either side.
it was a pleasure to attend.
second part was in a modern hotel basement room, cramped, dingy, and no clock. !
i didn't have a watch, as every exam i had ever taken had an official clock.
by then i'd taken numerous inc college and post-grad and work-related.
i was the only person not using a calculator, and had long division and trig going down the edges of the exam paper.
i remember having to do differential calculus, something that looked like a large tongue on a graph.

If they haven't got the sense to take what is needed I would question what are they doing at University anyway.
Too much pushing youngsters into universities who are not really suited to further education.

Don¨t know about British universities, but in Denmark students may not leave the exam room for the first half hour or so. After that those who need to go to the toilet are escorted there by an invigilator of the same sex, whose job is to ensure that students meeting in the toilets do not talk or exchange notes.

After the first half-hour latecomers are no longer admitted to the exam either at universities or the school -leaving exams.

The few who still write by hand would if they had forgotten their pencil case be allowed to borrow a pen or pencil before the exam started, but most students these days bring their lap-tops, thus making life a great deal easier for the examiner marking their paper, as we no longer have to struggle to read poor handwriting,

And yes, here too we complain that both schoolchildren and adults at university are behaving like babies, but I suspect the elder generation always did this.

Heaven knows, they complained enough about how spoilt we were when we were young in the 1970's! I can still hear my father going on about the unreasonableness of students thinking they had a right to express their wishes as to the contents of a syllabus!

I was an early years teacher and the next class had a supply teacher, he was about 40. He was listed to do playground duty and just beforehand he called into my classroom to ask if he would need his coat. I hope my look gave the answer before I answered !

If young adults are pampered and disorganised- surely that’s our fault for bringing up children that way who then pass it on! We all learn behaviours from our families. I see my children treating my grandchildren as if they are the most precious thing on earth, and being far too lenient. But it’s the way of the world. Times change and us old crones are not always right (well maybe most of the time we are 😂)

In my day - 60s- there were grades 1 to 6 before you failed (7).

I remember my period starting soon after I sat down to take my French O'level. We were not allowed to leave the room and I was too embarrassed to tell the invigilator, a male teacher, why.
Afterwards I rushed to the toilet and stuffed shiny toilet paper in my knickers, but there was a stain on the back of my tunic.
(even if I'd had sanitary protection with me, I didn't, I couldn't have used it because I wasn't allowed to leave).
This was in the 1950s.
But I think the gift of an exam pack is not a bad idea (not that it would include sanitary protection).
I failed French and I shouldn't have.