The Retirement Newsletter: My last set of summer exams
Issue Number: -37 — What’s the big deal?
Welcome
Welcome to issue -37 — my last set of summer exams.
This week is about summer exams, Bluebells in my local woods, and looking back at an unplanned ski trip I took to the States a few years ago.
Summer Exams
Summer exams have been a big part of my life since I was 12, and some 50 years later, they are still part of my life. In my mid-twenties to early thirties, there was a brief window of about ten years in which they weren’t part of my life, and at the time, I didn’t realise that summer exams would come back at a later stage of my career.
The first summer exam I can remember sitting was when I was at school. We had the dreaded summer exams to determine how our year had gone and which classes we would be streamed to the following year. It was a big deal.
At 15, I sat my first ‘public’ exam — maths. I was good at maths and took my ‘O level’ (Ordinary Level Examination — a UK exam, now deceased and replaced with the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education)) a year early.
The following year I took the rest of my ‘O levels’.
At 17, I took my first ‘A Level’ (Advanced Level), again in maths. And a year later, I took the rest of my ‘A-levels’. And then it was off to University.
At University, we had exams every summer to see if we could progress to the next academic year. And then, in the final year, we sat our ‘finals’, which determined our degree classification.
So, from age 12, for ten years, exams blighted the start of my summers.
I then had a few years off from summer exams as I worked, completed my Masters (no exam, just a viva (oral exam)), my PhD (another viva) and my post-doc.
I then became a lecturer.
As a university lecturer, you wouldn’t think that summer exams would be a big deal for me. But they are. The work and stress they cause are considerable, and sometimes (just sometimes), I think it would be easier to sit the exams.
My work on the exams starts early in the academic year, as I have to start thinking of the questions I will set for the summer exams.
Pulling the exam papers together, writing model answers (when needed), setting up the marking rubric (if needed) and getting the exam papers approved happens over Christmas and spring.
From spring onwards, the students start to stress about exams, and the emails begin about stress, what will be in the papers, and how the exams will be run.
In the summer, it is all about sitting exams, and as a lecturer, I worry that the exam will work and that there will not be any problems in the exam hall on the day of the exams.
Once the students have taken the exams, it is on to marking (a part of my job I definitely won’t miss) and getting the data into the systems. And then there is the checking. And each year, we have less time to do all this work.
And I am still not done.
The next stages in the process are getting the exam marks confirmed and approved by the Board of Examiners, getting the marks and outcomes out to the students, and the worst bit — several weeks of providing ‘academic guidance’.
Academic Guidance is when I meet with students and explain why they have not passed an exam, what papers they need to resit, why they have not got the degree they wanted, or why they cannot progress to the next year of study. It is not a job I enjoy.
And, of course, if there are winter exams, a lot of the above work, setting and marking exams, happens twice a year. And I have not included the resit exams that happen in August, which also generate a lot of work with new questions being set, another Board of Examiners meeting and more academic guidance meetings. The exam cycle never stops.
So, will I miss exams when I retire? Short and easy answer — no.
Travel
After finishing my spontaneous ski trip to Austria and returning to Malaysia, I got a call from a friend inviting me to go skiing with him in the US. How could I say no?
My most mad ski trip yet? — Travelling from Malaysia to the US to go skiing. Was I nuts to consider making such a trip?
Changi Airport, Singapore — More strange goings-on at Changi Airport, Singapore.
Hong Kong Airport — My first visit to Hong Kong Airport. Little did I know that this was the first of many trips to Hong Kong.
“Fly the friendly skies with United Airlines “ — A twelve-hour flight with nothing to do! A nightmare flight.
Las Vegas! Baby!!! — My first visit to Las Vegas. They say first impressions are lasting.
The drive from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Park City, Utah — Finally, on the road to Park City, Utah, for a week of skiing. It was a long drive with a bumpy start.
The start of a great skiing trip? More next week.
Nature
Last weekend, I was out for a walk, and I think the Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) in my local woods hit peak bloom. They were stunning.
And it wasn’t just the sight of the Bluebells; it was the smell as I was lucky enough to be in the woods on an almost windless day, and the scent of the Bluebells hung heavy in the air. Magical.
Next week
Next week, in issue -36, I return to my regular subject of side-hustles and retirement and look at which side-hustles I might try when I retire.
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick
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