Chinese Exam Strategies

This week is the last week of classes, which means I’ve spent about 10 hours observing my students taking exams.  Here are my exam-taking cultural observations:

• If given the opportunity, some students will cheat–no matter how sweet and innocent they seem.  Before class, they will write the answers on their desk.  However, if they know you are a strict teacher who checks every single desk before an exam, they won’t even try.  More creative methods that I’ve seen are writing answers on their arms, writing answers on correction tape, and having a paper tucked up your sleeve.
• Most students would excel in the boy scouts.  They operate on the premise of “always be prepared” for exams.  It’s not uncommon to have half a dozen pens on the desk, an eraser, and correction tape.  Of course, it’s always the one unprepared student whose pen runs out of ink.
• While a lot of students at the beginning of the exam will flip through the exam once to gauge its length, almost all of them will work meticulously through the exam answering each question before moving to the next.
• Chinese students check their answers.  Multiple times.  Again and again.  When I see a student begin on their fifth run through the test I’m always tempted to just take the exam away.  At that point, your second guessing is only going to lower your score.  I was always a “do it right the first time and turn it in” type of test-taker.  I rarely checked my answers, so it’s almost painful to watch students review their tests so many times.
• It is bad to be the first person to turn in a test.  There is a famous idiom in China–the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.  I must admit, I’m chuckling inside as I watch the first five or so students finish the exam.  After they’ve reread the exam about a dozen times they start fidgeting and trying to look occupied.  None of them wants to be the first to raise their hand and admit they’re finished.  To make my exam-watching more entertaining, I place bets with myself on who will be the first to crack and turn in the exam.  As soon as one person gives in and becomes the first, another five immediately follow.
• You should turn in your exam around the same time as your roommate/friend.  Chinese students often sit next to the same person every single class period, so I know a lot of my students as pairs.  I know Abby and Sarah go together and Hope and Sky go together.  If one is a faster test taker, they’ll sit and fidget and recheck until their partner turns in their exam.
• It is bad to be the last person to turn in an exam.  After the first rush of six exams turned in, students slowly finish up.  The longest wait comes when there are two students remaining.  However, as soon as one of them turns in the exam I know I’m done twiddling my thumbs.  That last student will immediately turn in her exam as well…even if she’s only been able to check her exam three times.