EXAM HALL ETIQUETTE

Imagine this scenario: you're writing away at an exam and there's only a couple of minutes left before time's over, you're frantically scribbling your last sentences, hoping beyond hope they can help you survive this ordeal, when the person next to you calls you and you stop writing, waste precious time to look at them and then they say, “Did you get a new haircut?”

Exams are important because they help you pass and make progress in education. An obstacle to doing that is the annoying characters we are often faced with in exam halls, like the person mentioned above. Exam halls are one place where you need everyone to behave because you can't afford to get distracted. It is necessary that we are all aware of the things that could potentially cause a lapse in someone's concentration, resulting in failure for them in the exam and later on in life, and that we make sure we are never responsible for it.

Talking to your fellow examinees is not allowed in any exam hall, but emergencies could turn up. For instance, if you have an urge to talk to the person next to you about the latest iPhone being able to cure cancer, remember, you're not allowed to because it's not an emergency. If your query or suggestion has something to do with the answers, it's even more important not to talk because that would be illegal. Don't try to borrow apparatus from the people around you because in most cases, that's illegal too. Such advice might seem obvious and useless (partly because it is), but people keep forgetting them. The guilty party is supposed to get into trouble for such unruly behaviour, but with them, someone innocent always gets pulled into the mess. It's hardly someone's fault if they are asked for answers because they look like nerds.

It is not considered cool if you finish exams in half the given time and then you spend the other half annoying others. Vacate the hall, or revise, and do not try to start conversations with people who are in a mathematical crisis where the value of X simply won't present itself. If your crush has taken a seat around you, don't stare. It wastes both of your time, and by now they think you're a creep so there's no point staring anyway. Some people have the annoying habit of humming a tune in the middle of an exam. You might be a talented singer but don't sing, because no one wants you to. It's also not advisable to scream “EUREKA!” in the middle of an exam once the value of X does present itself; this could get you dangerously close to expulsion.

Every once in a while, we come across an invigilator who does more than making sure everything is under control in the hall. He will tell you to maintain a proper sitting posture, make comments about your handwriting, and decide that the middle of the exam is a good time to deliver a lecture about unkempt hair. None of this is okay, and if a teacher does behave that way, students should politely tell them off.

May the Force be with you at the exam hall.