Proctors Elizabeth M. Accardi and Susan H. Creek count exams following the conclusion of the final for Historical Studies A-14, “Japan: Tradition and Transformation.”

Even the hardest working undergraduates don’t sit for as many Harvard exams as retired public school teacher Leslie Oliver.

This exam period Oliver sat through seven exams without ever cracking open a blue book.

“I like to be in touch with students,” said Oliver, who taught English at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School for years.

As ex-teachers, many College exam proctors enjoy the classroom setting and the engagement with students, but some will admit a more pragmatic reason for overseeing exams.

Virginia Hutchinson, a retired teacher from the Woburn Public School System, has been proctoring at Harvard for 12 years. She says proctoring is “an interesting way to make some extra money.”

“It’s a minimal time commitment,” says retired teacher Fran Sullivan of this twice-yearly way to earn money.

The commitment, while minimal, entails more than just showing up for the exam.

Proctors must attend a mandatory orientation where they go over the rules outlined in the handbook for proctors, which contains the text read out at the beginning of each exam.

Hutchinson says she enjoys the attention to the minutiae of administering an exam—the “many little parts to the job.”

In addition to reading the examination procedures aloud at the beginning of the exam and monitoring the activities of test-takers, proctors must compare the exam attendance slips to a class roster provided by the instructor. For tests in large lecture halls, this can be particularly tedious and time-consuming.

Still, there are ways to keep proctoring fresh. Sullivan, who has been working as a proctor for five years, likes overseeing exams in an array of disciplines.

“The different subjects have their own flavor, so it doesn’t get boring,” she says.

Oliver, a former English teacher, says he’d like the opportunity to proctor an English exam. In his first year, he has proctored primarily science and math exams.

Proctors, who are hired by the Office of the Registrar of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, do not get to choose which examinations they administer.

“You indicate your willingness to work at certain times and Harvard matches it up with what they need,” Sullivan states.