Thankfully it doesn't happen very often. But every now and again I get a really annoying exam paper to mark. I open the script and there is a lot written for the answer and all looks OK. But when I read the text I find that what has been provided is a work of fiction. The candicate has just picked on a couple of words in the question and written a whole bunch of stuff which is meaningless in just about any context. It is as if they are writing in the despairing hope that their random text will somehow match up with reality. It never does.

I realise that if everyone in the exam hall is writing feverishly there is a temptation to start churning out text as well. But please people, don't do this. I have to read it all and try and find something which makes sense (often quite tricky). I kind of worry that people might think I'm daft enough to give marks for such drivel.

Someone once said that it is better to stay silent and appear stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. If you don't know the answer, leave a blank page and move on to the next part of the question. You never know, something might come back to you as you go through the exam. And never, never, answer the sections in a question in the wrong order. I hate that.