Questions

It’s always the same. Before a test nobody will ask me any questions. No questions about the materials, that is. They never stop asking me about the format of the test, though, all the way till the eve of the test by emails. It’s extremely annoying receiving the same stupid question again and again: “Sir, what is the format of the test?” I really don’t get the preoccupation with the format. It can be essays, multiple-choice, etc. but much more important than the format of the test is to study the materials.

“What difference does it make?” I asked recently.
“It helps us prepare better,” they said. Prepare better how? Nobody asks me to explain or re-explain a concept, theory, whatever. All they want to know is the format.

During the test, everybody will be all serious, as they should be, and I’ll be sitting in front of the class, bored, looking out for anybody who might want to ask me anything. You guessed it, rarely anybody ever does. Sometimes, somebody will ask me to explain a word. I might as well not be in the room and go have lunch or something.

Now, after the test, it’s something else. After I return all the scripts, after I go through all the questions and the solutions and highlight the common mistakes, after the initial shock of realizing how terrible they did, finally come the questions.

“Sir, will there be another test?”
“Sir, can you give us some assignments for extra credits?”
“Sir, can you help us?”

Yeah, now they’re talking.