The end of exams

Well that's all done, then.  I wrote the last two exams, and now I'm bored.  I'm old enough that it is a familiar boredom, the kind that accompanies the end of a great effort.  The difficulty with post-exam static is that there is not a concrete project to look at and say, "Hey, I did that!" unlike  a sewing project where you get to put it on, or cookies where you get to eat them.  I am throwing away my notes and saying, "I know all that!" by way of closure.  

The Irish exam was the one I knew least about and which had the most novel content for me.  At one point, I had to indicate the word "Artist" in the part where one identifies professions.  Not being able to remember the word, I wrote (in Irish, of course), "He used to be a farmer, but now he makes pictures."  I am certain it will be counted wrong, but *I* thought it was funny, and it makes me laugh even now.  

They have changed the exam schedule here at UL.  In the past, exams did not take place until the end of January so that people could read and prepare over the Christmas holidays (yeah, right), and this belief appears to be held mostly among the faculty.  One faculty member I was interviewing said she and her colleagues expected exam grades to drop because students do not have as much time to prepare.  In contrast, the majority, nay, every single one of the students I talked to said they much preferred to have the exams before Christmas rather than after Christmas, their response being, "It makes Christmas so much less stressful.  I mean you take your books home and there they are, but do you open them?"  I agree.  I would much rather have an exam after the course is over rather than go away, and then come back to it.  But I can see how it could be a good thing because the knowledge gets to be put aside and then revisited, such that it might "stick" better.  I will be interested to email the faculty member who predicted a drop and see if her prediction was born out.  

One thing I did not like about the exams was having to do handwriting for two hours straight. We are now a typing society, and I find handwriting at top speed, hunched over a desk, actually hurts after two hours straight of hunching and scribbling.  These exams are very very formal.  You have to sign in twice, have your ID on the desk the whole time, and you can't even have your coat with you.  People called "invigilators" (no really, they are!) constantly walk up and down the aisles of special exam desks to make sure one is not cheating or attempting to cheat.  You can't get up once you are done with the exam, you have put your hand up and get an Invigilator to come and take it from you.  I think they get Invigilators from the same pool of volunteers that show up for voting booths in the United States.  

Grades are not available until February.  How's that for feedback?