From the School , 60 Years Ago - 1966
Examinations Jill Pudney, Middle V V
Examinations are peculiar. They bring the one time the whole school is quiet. Girls rush hither and thither before an examination, finding out where one can borrow a protractor, another, trace the meaning of a French verb, and yet another, how to write.
Then the examination is almost ready to begin. The girls sit down, clutching their pens and pencils nervously. Many look as though they are about to meet their execution. Others pretend that not even a French examination can make any difference to them. Most of them really care enormously about their results - but not for anyone, or anything, are they going to show it.
A mistress walks in, and hands the form mistress a pile of examination papers. The girls look on nervously. It is very odd what a difference a few words with a question mark at the end of them seem to make to your whole life, if you are reading them. If you have not done much revision, you regret all the hours you spent, doing something that could have waited. But revision can be dull: you have learnt it all before, at some time. The clock will not wait for you to do all your regretting. It ticks on, regardless.
Having read the paper through, and decided that, after all, you can answer the questions easily, you imagine your mistress's surprise when you come top of the form (not forgetting your own surprise). Then you find you can only remember half of question one. But if you do your best, you will probably do better than you thought (or anyone else thought).
If you look round during an examination, most of the girls will be writing as if they had not a minute to spare; others will be sucking their pens, trying to remember some particularly elusive answer, and some looking as though they never could do that subject and, if the rest of the class pass, the mistress concerned cannot possibly be too cross with them.
At last the examination ends, the papers are taken in and, after a tense silence, all relax and talk as hard as they can. The examination is over, and you can concentrate on the next one (most unfortunately, there is a "next one").
At first, when all the examinations are finished, everyone is eager for results, but gradually even that excitement is forgotten, in the interest of daily school life. Then the results are given out, and it is brought back. You listen: so you didn't do too badly! But of course you could have done better, if you had done more revision (instead of writing essays about examinations, of all things!)