There was one time that an examiner was having problems with his personal life. Unintentionally and unknowingly, he was already bringing his problems and extra luggage plus hang ups with him to his work. He became grouchy, complained a lot and caused minor problems to become big issues. According to his colleagues, he became very hard to deal with thus everyone started to dislike and avoid working with him. The poor examinees became the unwilling victims of  this problematic examiner. They were the ones who bore the consequences of the negative attitude of their examiner. He was unreasonably, unbelievably and extremely strict with them that it was impossible to pass his standards. The school noticed that the number of their students began to decrease. News about the way this examiner handles his examinees came to the attention of the school’s administrators. They realized that since nobody passes the standard of the problematic examiner, it would mean lesser students to enroll to their school. The school administration sent a warning notice to the said examiner. Good thing that the examiner quickly realized his mistakes and began to go back to his old self that is calm, considerate and sensitive towards the examinees.

There are also times that the examinee should speak loudly and clearly for them to be heard and understood. Quite a number of examinees tend to be shy and timid causing them to speak little or too softly. Some become tongue tied because their fear and nervous feeling is overwhelming. Some examinees could not meet the examiners in the eye and their heads are bowed down as they speak.  These demonstrate lack of confidence and will not be of advantage to them.  Examinees should try their very best to be eloquent. They should know their weaknesses beforehand and try to work on them before they have themselves examined especially if they are applying for a job or enrolling for a school. Of course being examined so that one would know how he rates would also be good for him. This way, he would know which area to focus and work on. Foreigners may be able to speak fluent English but their listening skill rates very low. On the other hand, there are some people who rates high in their listening skill but find it hard to speak a straight sentence.

It is usually the examinees who are required to study and prepare hard before they have their examinations. But in my opinion, the examiners should also do their part in the preparation process. Language examiners should try their best to learn languages and accents from all over the world. Of course we do not require them to actually learn and master all the languages. Getting exposed to every country’s language would make it easier for the examiners to familiarize themselves with the accents and intonation of a particular country. This way, they would not have culture shock and would not find it hard to understand an examinee that would be coming from another country.

The schools, learning centers and offices should be very careful in hiring good and quality examiners. The human resource department should take special note if the examiners are cultivated people or not. Examiners are allowed to give their criticisms to their examinees granted that it would be relayed in a constructive way. Most people would show their dislike or annoyance at once but not so with cultivated people. They have mustered the skill of being calm and they carefully select their words especially if they would need to rebuke or say a constructive criticism to somebody. “A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger.” This is a verse from the book of Proverbs that a wise examiner should live by. If the school can afford it, they should hire a person who is well traveled and learned. This type of people are broadminded because they have been exposed to the world so they are able to understand and respect different cultures. They would not be petty and hopefully not materialistic. Some examiners cannot help but focus on the physical appearance of the examinee. This is normal because proper grooming is expected whether in school or at work.  But unfortunately, some examiners would rate the examinee very low just because their appearance was not pleasing to the examiners. They forget that it was the language skills of the examinee that they were supposed to evaluate and not the physical aspect.