Jaffy tips for exam days at Caulfield:
1. First and foremost,
get there on time, even better if you can get there a bit early. If you're a little bit late it'll probably be okay but the invigilators (see point 2) are fairly unpredictable so it's best not to risk it.
2. The people who supervise the exam halls are called invigilators (i.e. they keep watch over everyone). They're the ones who let you go to the bathroom if needs be, and they'll be walking around their assigned columns of desks to see if anyone has a question/needs to pee/is doing something naughty. If they do catch you being a cheeky bugger, they have the capacity to report you to the university's academic board, so don't be silly and you'll be fine.
3. In this coming exam period, RUG UP because you'll probably be waiting a while outside the grandstand at the racecourse. Chances are it's going to be fucking freezing and probably pretty rainy, and you'll be trapped outside until the invigilators let you in ~10 minutes before reading time begins. The interior of the grandstand is heated, so you should be alright once you're inside.
4. This one is (mostly) for the ladies: Go to the bathroom
before you get to the racecourse. Blokes won't have too much of an issue if they need the bathroom at the venue before the exam, but the queue to the female toilet is always
astoundingly long. Like, around the toilet block long.
5. Got two exams on the one day? I'm so sorry. But it's alright if you're not lucky enough to live nearby - you're right around the corner from Monash's Caulfield campus as well as plenty of restaurants, cafes and shopping centres in that area. You can easily find something to eat for decent prices in the area, and the Monash Caulfield library is close-by for cramming/napping.
6. Do you get peckish during exams? That's alright because you can eat, but if you bring in noisy, smelly or unreasonable food into the exam you might get it taken away from you (and everyone will hate you).
Anyone have anything else? I'll index them here (with credit of course!)
If you've got a three hour exam, good things to eat are almonds in a snaplock back, or just mixed/assorted nuts with water. Obviously have a sippy-bottle to save time on unscrewing bottle caps.
Be prepared for the invigilators to come to your table and stare at you like a weirdo about five minutes into the exam. They're just checking that your face matches your photo. One of them even made a comment to me once and I was like "Um... tryna do an exam brah". (That was in my head. In reality I politely replied and hoped she would leave soon). Just don't be thrown by random distractions/visits. There will also be announcements that go something like "People from [Unit Code], there has been a mistake on page 50. Turn to page 50. Fix the mistake on page 50. Just to repeat one more time, (repeats the whole thing)". They can sometimes happen frequently, so don't be thrown by that, either.
I'll come back if I think of more.
^Sem 2 last year, BMS1062 exam was interrupted for corrections no less than 12 times... lol
Speaking of announcements, you'll usually be sharing the exam hall with a bunch of other random subjects with different length exams to you, so don't freak out if you've got an hour left and suddenly they announce "CANDIDATES FOR XYZ123, YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES LEFT". Especially if you've got a longer exam (3 or 3.5 hours), be prepared for these annoying interruptions.
Another tip, disable your phones for the love of God. Keep them on the floor, in your bag. Even if it rings in your bag its a fine. If it rings or activates on your person or on your desk, you're in potentially much more trouble because it could be construed as cheating. On another topic, do not attempt to cheat. It's unfair but if you're the kind of person who cheats, you either dont care or momentarily overlook that. If you get caught, they will come down on you like a tonne of bricks. You will likely get 0 for that exam and the entire unit. A black mark is recorded against your name for your duration of your stay at monash (and a bit after i think). Good luck explaining that 0 to employers as well.
Ladies Toilets: if you arrive early enough, go use a toilet at Monash Caulfield instead. Otherwise there are TWO toilet blocks at Caulfield Racecourse - one is usually significantly more busy than the other because of its prominence. Otherwise, if it's close to exam start time, just wait until the invigilators open the door, dump your stuff at your desk really quickly and go use the bathroom. So long as you're not carrying anything and don't have your bag, the invigilators will let you use the toilet quickly while everyone is getting seated before the exam starts.
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