It has been exam time in our small town. But things are competitive and we feel it. There is a tension in the air. My neighbors are kind of quiet as they work to help their children get through it. In high school, I feared tests and did horribly on anything standardized. But when I had a heavy load and three exams in one day, I worked harder and succeeed. When I had the freedom to write essays, I did much better. There is no way to avoid the stress. Actually, the stress can be a way to motivate a student to do their best at the time required. French students have much stress. The nervousness is normal. At the Sorbonne in the French cultural studies program they had set up for foreign students, the stress was high to get the Certificate. American students just had to get strong grades. A student wants to do their best. Sometimes it is just so hard to think straight at the time of the exam. In the time of Vauban, in France, the King’s engineers were formed. To be a King’s engineer you had to pass a difficult math exam, a very difficult exam. Not every aristocrat’s son succeeded. And that is perhaps why the engineers were not guillotined during the French Revolution. In times of battle, they were designing and building forts and ramparts, digging along with the common soldier.
In French the expression “to take an exam” is “passer un examen.” To pass an exam and succeed is “réussir à l’examen.” To say, “I’m taking an exam” a student says “Je passe un examen.” To succeed at the exam is, “Je réussis à l’examen. “
I took my exam translates as “J’ai passé mon examen.” Then when you succeed, you say “J’ai rèussi à mon examen.” Sometimes you don’t suceed. That’s tough. But learning from mistakes is what matters. You just want to make mistakes before the big exam. If a student doesn’t pass the exam, they say, “Je n’ai pas réussi à mon examen.” Here are some other other expressions to practice. Tu as passé l’examen et tu as réussi. Il a passé l’examen et il a réussi. Elle a passé l’examen et elle a réussi. On a passé l’examen et on a réussi. Nous avons passé l’examen et nous avons rèussi. Vous avez passé examen. Mais vous n’avez pas réussi. Ils n’ont pas passé l’examen. Ils n’ont pas réussi. Elles ont passé l’examen et elles n’ont pas réussi.
So who were famous people who passed and succeeded at important exams? President Ulysses S. Grant went to West Point, was a student for two years, then at the two year mark all entering students must take a math exam. Sound familiar? General Rochambeau and French engineers created the system for West Point. Grant took it and passed. Grant had probably taught himself the math for the exam. He took the place of another student from his region in Ohio who had failed. Though he wasn’t a stellar student, he did graduate, and the rest was history.