Exams in Canadian Martyrs

Though testing in Canadian Martyrs Catholic Elementary School seems like a suitable option to make up for the lack of examination space at McMaster, in practice, it isn’t.

On Dec. 15 of last year, McMaster Daily News announced that some students would begin writing exams in Canadian Martyrs.

As soon as this new examination space was opened, I was fortunate enough to have a total of three exams take place in this location.

Based on my personal experience with doing an exam in Canadian Martyrs, it is not the best place to compensate for the lack of exam space on campus.

Given that exams are so heavily weighted and our GPAs are so dependent on how well we perform in them, standards for better examining accommodations should be met.

In my first exam experience at Canadian Martyrs, I was very disappointed with the accommodation that I thought would be a temporary one.

First, I had no idea where what the school was located and that sparked a sense of anxiety on its own.

Once I found the location, I was waiting amongst over 100 other students in a staircase, while other students were stuck outside in winter weather at 7 p.m. on a Friday night. And that’s just the beginning.

Once we all finally filed into the exam room on the second floor of the building, our exam began and I found myself unable to focus and distracted by the sound of children screaming in what sounded like a gym on the other side of the makeshift wall.

The sound of children was so loud, that the professor instructed the invigilators to go find ear plugs for us in to wear for the remaining hour and a half of our exam.

After remaining patient and optimistic to the solution that was presented, I was disappointed once again when the invigilators did not have enough ear plugs to distribute to all the students and had only managed to cover one quarter of the class.

In my first examining experience at Canadian Martyrs, I was very disappointed with the accommodation that I thought would be a temporary one. 

Of course, I was one of the unlucky students who did not have earplugs to block out the sound of screaming children.

In an English history of literature class where the exam was composed of passage responses and an essay, focus was essential.

Needless to say, I left the exam very upset, and as a commuter with an hour and a half commute to endure after an exam on a Friday night, I was not impressed. In addition, my grade definitely suffered from my exam grade.

The idea of partnering with a facility near campus may have seemed like an efficient idea to make up for the lack of space for examination, but in practice, has not played out as well as one would hope.

Not only was I already stress out about my exam and upset with the time that my exam was being held, but my grade evidently suffered from the experience so my stress did not end with that expereince.

Hopefully this arrangement will be one that is not definite but temporary. For students who have their exams in Canadian Martyrs this winter, I hope your experience will not be as unfortunate as mine.

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