random Friday musings on the subject of exams.

I stand at the back in the exam halls and write lists. There are shopping lists, lists of who is doing what and when this week, planning lists, packing lists for scout camp, lists of gardening plans, lists of quick and easy dinners, lists of photos to take, and heaven forbid to print, lists of cakes to bake, and meals to cook, lists of phone calls to make (including the plumber Again, who still hasn't come to mend the hot bathroom tap....) I write lists of the lists. Some of them are on scraps of paper, some are in my head. All of them are to distract me from the fact that I really want a cup of tea.

The caretaker comes to see if it is too hot, and do we need some fans. Several of the students are wearing thick sweatshirts. I decline the fans but open another window. These are AS level students, sixth formers don't wear uniform and so are dressed in eclectic attire. Two of them have taken off their shoes. I avoid walking near their desks. One girl is wearing some kind of laced up corset over her shirt. I can't decide if it's a back brace for medical reasons, but it looks too stylish for that, and yet it looks far too uncomfortable for a fashion item.  I decide that perhaps as she is a history student it might help her to be in character, as far I can tell we've moved on from the dark ages, but who knows.

Is it so wrong to notice that the students doing child development are wearing a LOT more make up than those sitting the history exam.

This exam is in the sixth form common room. Someone thought is was a good idea to paint one wall lime green and all the woodwork and window sills purple. It was not. It is a recipe for a migraine. It must be a rite of passage for common rooms though, I recall our's had a giant Danger Mouse mural on it. No one ever had to sit an exam in there though.....