Invigilator and Room Plan for a 240-Candidate Exam
A district examination centre has 240 candidates for a two-hour paper. Five rooms are available: R1 seats 60, R2 seats 50, R3 seats 50, R4 seats 40, and R5 seats 40. Twelve invigilators have reported, and the rules require at least two invigilators in every room and one additional invigilator for any room with more than 50 candidates. One invigilator, Ms. X, has a niece appearing in the exam, and the niece is seated in R3. Another invigilator, Mr. Y, cannot stand for long periods and must be seated. R4 has a faulty air conditioner and is farthest from the toilet, while R1 is next to the road and noisy. The centre superintendent proposes: R1–60 candidates with 2 invigilators; R2–50 with 2; R3–50 with 2; R4–40 with 2; R5–40 with 2; and Ms. X in R3. The remaining two invigilators will be relief. The superintendent wants the plan checked before the answer sheets are opened.
1. Check the proposed plan against room capacity and invigilator rules. Identify every violation.
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Room capacity is exactly used: 60 + 50 + 50 + 40 + 40 = 240, so no candidate is without a seat.
Invigilator rule: every room needs at least 2; any room with more than 50 needs 3. R1 has 60, so it needs 3, not 2. Required total = R1 3 + R2 2 + R3 2 + R4 2 + R5 2 = 11. With 12 reported, one relief is available.
The proposal deploys only 10 invigilators and keeps 2 as relief, so R1 is short by one. It also places Ms. X in R3 while her niece is seated in R3 - a conflict that must be avoided. The plan is therefore invalid on two counts.
2. Propose a valid roster, including the treatment of Ms. X, Mr. Y, and the relief invigilator.
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One valid roster:
- R1: 3 invigilators (one moved from relief)
- R2: 2, including Ms. X
- R3: 2
- R4: 2
- R5: 2, including Mr. Y seated near the door
- Relief: 1
Total = 11 deployed + 1 relief = 12. Ms. X is moved away from R3 so she has no direct supervision of her niece; the niece stays in R3 and is invigilated by others. Mr. Y is given a seated role and should not be the only invigilator handling movement or toilet escorts. R1’s noise is a distraction, not a rule violation; place a senior invigilator there. R4’s faulty AC should be reported, but it does not change the invigilator count.
3. If one more invigilator reports sick at the last minute, what is the minimum safe response?
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Available become 11, which is exactly the required minimum (R1 3 + four rooms × 2). The exam can run only if all 11 are present and no room is left single-staffed. There is no relief left, so any toilet escort or emergency will pull an invigilator from a room.
The minimum response is to request a standby from the district control room and, in the meantime, combine relief movement with a roving supervisor rather than removing an invigilator from R1. Do not reduce R1 below 3. If no standby arrives, record the shortage and ask the centre supervisor to cover escorted movement; do not silently run a room with one invigilator.