KCPE Exams. Remembering Day One.

Sitting for a KCPE exam is like a dream come true especially after 8 long years of preparation.

What goes through every KCPE 2014 Exam candidates mind is just left to the imagination. Will I pass the exam or fail? Will I make my parents proud by having my name on the newspaper for the best performing candidates?

This is a day that all had been waiting for and to me it was not exceptional.

I knew that day was coming because I had the countdown on my calendar.
My parents made sure I was very comfortable and even offered to bring me a “special” lunch to school because after all I deserved special treatment.

Very early in the morning I arrived at school only to meet my fellow candidates whispering in corners. “unakumbuka zile maswali na answers teacher alituambia?( do you remember the questions and answers the teacher taught us?)

I saw no harm in joining them. What if they discussed something which would appear in the paper?

That was about 6:30 in the morning and we would be called for assembly before the final dreaded day began. The head teacher would constantly remind us of how important the so called exam is.

“This is the last time you are wearing those uniforms and also the last time you are doing an exam in this institution. This exam will determine your future so take it seriously” she said.

She was also surrounded by mean looking teachers who resemble mourners who have just completed a funeral procession.

7.00 am. A team of four stern looking individuals escorted by a police officer would then set foot in the school premises.

I almost forgot to mention the ransacking part. With our geometrical sets and a writing board, we would line up to be checked just in case some cheeky characters decided to pull up a “Nyakemincha school” stunt.
Immediately after that we went to our respective classrooms where each one of us was assigned a desk with a name and index number specified on it.

Our invigilator then called one of the pupils to witness the cutting and slicing of the exam paper. Unaona kama imefunguliwa ama imeguzwa( has it been opened or tampered with?) and the candidate would nod his head in denial.

With the paper turned upside down we were advised to stand up and wait for the bell.

“Start!” Yelled the invigilator after a bell ring was heard. Then proceeded to scribble something on the blackboard that I think meant the duration we were to complete the paper.

The first paper was Kiswahili now that it has changed to Mathematics and English for some reason.

A pin drop silence was observed in the room as everyone was taking the paper as if it was the last one on earth. Since it was Kiswahili it would not take long to complete even with Insha included.

The invigilator let us out on a break for 20 minutes before we could embark on a second paper.

This was the only chance to meet and talk with my fellow candidates and most importantly conduct a “postmortem” on the examination. If you don’t understand a postmortem, it is going through the exam which you already did to find out if you got it right. Whenever your answer differed with the rest then you assured you got it wrong!

The second paper was easy because all the tension seemed to have gone with the first session. Our seriousness was cut short by one of the candidate who was sweating profusely to the point of not being able to hold a pencil. The invigilator walked to his seat and tried to calm him down but eventually he was escorted outside and came back a more relaxed and composed person.

After completing the day’s paper, our teachers would not let us go that easily as they had to do “final touches” on the following day’s paper.

As much as there was a lot of tension and seriousness in the first day, I treasure it as a memorable moment because it reminds me of how I started to view my life and also my career.