To ask if any one has done exam invigilator work?

[Pibplob]

If so, could I ask your experiences please? What duties did the job entail etc. I have worked in a school before as a TA but not done any invigorating before so want to try and make sure I can include anything relatable in my application form. Thanks so much for any help.

That's meant to say invigilating!!

Turn up at a random school. Meet with SMT, take instructions from them. Help pupils find their allocated seat according to their ULN, give our scripts, walk up and down a lot, give out tissues to snifflers, give out pens/pencils to those too lazy to sort out their own equipment need them, say 10 minutes (or whatever) minutes left. Collect in scripts. Dismiss pupils. Label and sort the piles of scripts (often more than one exam sat at same time and often with different duration). Give to office/SMT. Leave.

Boring but easy unless someone kicks off.

I've done this at a University. You just have to walk around the room looking for cheaters and answer queries when the students put their hands up. Any queries about the paper will be answered by the senior invigilator. Any concerns you would report to the senior invigilator.

You would help with setting out the papers, making sure the right number of each are on each desk and face down. You might need to take an attendance register - not sure how this would work in a school, in university the students leave their ID cards on the desk to be checked.

You need to be alert so you notice as soon as a student puts their hand up. You may have to escort them to the toilet. Other things they ask for are: paper, rubber, dictionary, queries about the question paper. It's pretty easy and mainly common sense and you would receive training and instructions from the senior invigilator.

Hope this helps!

It is unbelievably straightforward and tedious. If you're into mindfulness then you could get some practise in. There has to be copies of the regulations in the exam hall, so you can read them, but they aren't interesting. The stuff you say at the start of the exam is read off a card.

I guess for an application you would want to sound reliable, with good attention to detail (losing an exam paper / giving out the wrong thing = not ok) but there's not much to it.

We have to put out the candidate numbers, question and answer sheets checking each name against a master copy. Write up the boards with the exam number, subject and length.

Watch the pupils coming in checking water bottles have no labels, equipment is in a see through bag, etc. There are lined up in row/number order by teachers.

Listen to/read out an announcement and collect in any prohibited materials. Also, new this year, make sure watches are removed from the wrist and placed on the table. The lead invigilator will then start the exam and write the start/finish times on a board.

Whilst the exam is going on you watch for cheating, communicating, etc (rare to never in my experience) and requests for paper, toilet, equipment, tissues, etc. We move around the room at roughly 15-20 minute intervals.

At the end (no times are called out) we collect answer papers, then question sheets/inserts, then candidate numbers. Then the lead invigilator will dismiss them row by row.

Can be boring but I usually amuse myself by working out the percentages of pupils - left handed, blond hair, glasses, house ties, etc!

Its incredibly boring

And now the exams are much longer!!

Over two hours and i want to die...i avoid 2 hour + exams like the plague

But apart from that its what everyone above me has said

And our schools do it for all the years

By the time it gets to year 11 they are usually awesome but years 7 and 8 can be a bit challenging (and really really sweet )

Thanks all. As I thought really! I guess it's more if you discover cheating / someone kicks off etc that it gets technical. Guess there's always more than one invigilator tho so that will help. Thanks.

Can I also ask how much work you tend to get and if it's a 2 hr exam for instance do you normally work for about 2.5hrs? How long before and after an exam have you needed to be there for? Thanks again!

I do it and have done for 4 years now. Just apply to a local school . For a morning exam starting at 9 I’m expected to be there at 8.30 and leave about 30 minutes after end of exam. There is a lot of work in the Summer time and just odd bits from now till Easter. The school pays for the checks and we have maybe 3 invigilator meet ups a year. We get paid for those. The money isn’t much but I enjoy it.

Thanks. Is it like bank work? They put a text out and whoever replies gets it? Can you pick and choose which exams / days you work or are you expected to work all of them? Thanks.

I heard a discussion on Radio 4 about games that invigilators play to pass the time. Slow-paced Pacman among the desks. Also whispered games with another invigilator such as "stand by the pupil likely to achieve the highest/lowest in life". I don't know how true this is!

What everyone has said.

But it might be worth looking at FE colleges rather than conventional schools and sixth form colleges, as they are more likely to have exams all year round (e.g. ESOL) so there would be more of a trickle of work.

Re your last post, I worked briefly in a FE exams office. A few weeks before each set of exams we would contact our invigilators for their availability, then draw up a roster from their replies. They were paid hourly based on the work they turned up for: half an hour either side sounds about right.

pib

We have to be there half an hour early and we get paid to 'tidy up' afterwards

The exam officer sends out an email with available dates and then you pick the ones you want to do and she gets back to us later with the dates

I dont work much but some people do, you get paid for training and very occasionally they might ask for extra help

I think some invigilators have been on school trips connected with GCSE like geography but i could be wrong

DH did it a few years ago when he was between jobs. He had to supervise a group of students over the lunch break, as due to a timetable clash, they were sitting an exam in the afternoon that others had already sat in the morning. His duties included supervising them to the edge of the school grounds so they could have a cigarette!

I heard a discussion on Radio 4 about games that invigilators play to pass the time. Slow-paced Pacman among the desks. Also whispered games with another invigilator such as "stand by the pupil likely to achieve the highest/lowest in life". I don't know how true this is!

I’m a teacher and at my previous school teachers invigilated internal exams but external ones were done by invigilators. We did use to play Pac-Man

I've done it and as well as the duties others have mentioned I often got asked to be a scribe or a reader for puplis who need extra help. I really enjoyed that part of the job plus you get to sit down!

It is very hard as you can't help them but I always tried to be reassuring and put them at their ease.

Following with interest

I did it once and honestly almost fell asleep stood up I found it really boring.

Good work if you are trying to clock up your 10k steps a day! Pac-Man, guess who and battleships! Amazing games to play while you walk around!

I've wondered about this in the past but have never seen the positions advertised. Are they usually word of mouth or could someone point me in the right direction? Am in Scotland 😊

10k steps - I'm on a fitness thing at the mo so that's good! I agree that it will probably be boring but may give it a whirl - if they want me that is!

My mil does exam invigilating. She picks up work easily. She seems like she does it on a weekly basis. It’s topping up her pension, and she’s busy busy 🤪

She tells me it’s older people she works with, who can get called on any time. The more she says yes to work, the more likely she gets called upon.

She’s had kids that have broken down in tears and lost it. She’s had to escort kids to the toilet.

You will have to learn