Today I invigilated exams. Yep, INVIGILATED...I didn't even know that word until I moved here. According to Merriam-Webster, to invigilate means to
"to keep watch; to supervise students at an examination," which is definitely what I did today. I work for two departments (Foundation Studies and Languages and Literature), so I had to give exams in both departments. Foundation Studies are basically like the prerequisites that we have at home. Exams are given from 9-12 and 2-5. So I helped with Old Testament in the morning and gave my own exams for Curriculum and Course Design and Methods of Teaching II in the afternoon. The exam this morning was for over 300 students. There were about 9 supervisors and it was CRAZY. The students were very used to the procedures because we live in an exam culture. We gave the exam in Nkoyoyo Hall, which is what we use for community workshop. Students had to present their passbooks, which indicates they have paid their tuition. Unlike home, students can pay their tuition up until they take their exams. There are penalties if they pay late, but they can still sit for the exam. Students must have also passed their coursework in order to sit for the exam.
So the exams come in sealed packages like these. I wrote the exams and delivered them weeks ago to a "restricted" area who took them off of my flash and transferred them to some super secret system.
We also got paid for invigilating exams at a rate of SHS6500, which is about $2.50. So, I made $5 for 6 hours of work!
Students write their answers in these answer booklets, which are called "scripts."
I only have about 80 scripts to grade, so I volunteered to take some
for colleagues. Many of their classes are 80+ and they often have 4 or 5
sections. I have less than 20 in most of my classes...yes, I am
spoiled. Hopefully, I can build some commodore by helping them. I love the Foundations Dept. and they are very sweet and loving to me. I was amazed at the way everyone came together and helped today. It was like a well-oiled machine. I have two more exams tomorrow and one on Saturday. Then, the count down for vacation begins!!
