In the fifteen-minute oral examination, the student answered her teacher's questions about the novel she had read. As the outside expert for the exam, I listened with interest—it was one of my favorite books. The student's answers about details were precise, and her interpretations were all good. There was no question she had passed with a very high grade. But when the time was up, with a half-hour before the next examination, I asked if she liked the book, and she lit up, and our lively discussion—with the teacher, too—went much further than the examination had. The exam setting had apparently prevented the student from showing her enthusiasm. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 6 June 2025)