On Invigilating

I'm so glad things are back to normal today--that is, I didn't have to wake up at 7am to get to a 9am Invigilators' Briefing. What is an Invigilators' Briefing, you may ask. To start off, the word 'Invigilator' needs to be defined. Towards the end of my first sem here in NUS, I got an email from the Department's AO (admin officer) asking me when I could invigilate. My first reaction was panic (my usual reaction actually in most cases, hehe), because I didn't know what the word meant, and being in a super-strict context (and being paranoid, hehe), I thought I did something wrong such that I needed to invigilate. Also, the word didn't sound like a happy word; it sounded like a bad, ominous word.

I suppose I should have consulted the dictionary then, but no. I emailed someone who was also a graduate of the program and was also an RS (research scholar--because only those with scholarships are asked to invigilate; not that it's a privilege, it's actually an obligation), and asked him what it meant. Probably detecting my anxiety, he emailed back right away and assured me that everything was ok, that 'to invigilate' only meant 'to proctor.' Turned out I didn't do anything wrong, but that I was right about the word being 'bad' or 'ominous.' Proctoring, or in this case, invigilating, is probably one of the most tedious activities in the world. (If you've ever done proctoring for the UPCAT, you'll know what I mean.)

My thought at this point though: Oh, ok, but why make it difficult? Just call it 'proctoring,' instead of 'invigilating.' Then I thought: 'Different country, different terms.' There are other terms here that are a bit different from the ones I'm used to. For instance, review (e.g., to 'review' for an exam) is called revision (e.g., most teachers would devote the last day of class to 'revision'); modules for subjects; 'a paper' instead of 'a final exam' (e.g., a classmate once asked me a few minutes before a final exam, "Is this your last paper?" to which I said "Yeah," which is my standard answer for questions I don't understand, hehe); and Uni for campus--all these, of course, are nothing compared to the 'invigilate' vs 'proctor' example.

So, an invigilator is a proctor. :) Having clarified that, an Invigilators' Briefing is an orientation of sorts for those RSs who have been assigned invigilation duties. For the most part, I really don't mind attending the briefing, even if I have done so several times, even if the same things are said and the same jokes are made every time, because I look forward to the chocolate eclairs that are usually served after the briefing. Those chocolate eclairs are good, and they come in minis, so they also look rather cute. :) When they scheduled the briefing this semester at 9am though, I wasn't sure the eclairs would be a good enough incentive to wake up that early (especially since I just had them about a week ago in a couple of lectures I attended, hee!). But since I didn't have a choice and I had to go anyway, I thought, "Oh, ok, at least, I'd have a treat after the briefing."

Spotting the refreshment table as I made my way to the the lecture hall, I saw that there were indeed eclairs. Nice! When I finally got to the eclairs plate after the briefing though, they were all gone. Actually, as I was nearing the plate, I saw the last person ever to have eclairs that morning, and she was getting two, she was getting the last two, of those little delights. And I was so close, and I couldn't stop her. Grrr! As I looked around later, I saw that some people had three or four! Hmph. It took all of my willpower not to grab those eclairs off their plates. I suppose the others come for the eclairs, too. Sigh. My realization: I better be faster in queuing up for the food next time.

P.S. I just realized I still haven't looked up the meaning of 'invigilate' after all this time. So I'll do it now. Done. And here it is:

invigilate

Main Entry:
in·vig·i·late
Pronunciation:
\in-ˈvi-jə-ˌlāt\
Function:
verb
Inflected Form(s):
in·vig·i·lat·ed; in·vig·i·lat·ing
Etymology:
Latin invigilatus, past participle of invigilare to stay awake, be watchful, from in- + vigilare to stay awake — more at vigilant
Date:
1553
intransitive verb: to keep watch; especially British : to supervise students at an examinationtransitive verb: supervise, monitor
— in·vig·i·la·tion \-ˌvi-jə-ˈlā-shən\ noun
— in·vig·i·la·tor \-ˈvi-jə-ˌlā-tər\ noun

-from Merriam-Webster Online