Exam Books Big Business in Cambridge

At least somebody in Cambridge would not mind if examinations were made longer and more frequent. J.L. Hammett Co., of Kendall Square, supplies the familiar exam blue books to hundreds of institutions, including the University.

Each year Harvard orders about 353,000 exam books from Hammett's at $17-$30 a 1,000. Hammett's would just as well encourage writing on one side of the page and more extensive answers to essay questions.

One junior executive at the school supplies firm recalls that a Harvard undergraduate wrote him a few years ago complaining that he could have passed the examination had Hammett's been nice enough to manufacture larger blue books. The boys in the front office still chuckle over that one.

A M.I.T. student was quite upset two years ago when he was not allowed to purchase several exam books retail. When he could not explain why he wanted them, he left the factory disgruntled.

Of Harvard's yearly supply, 310,000 books are printed "with revisions," which is Hammett Talk for the memorable salutation:

Harvard University--Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Do Not Remove Pages From Book.

Do Not Remove Book From Room.

The company makes all kinds of exam books for about every school and college in New England, but Harvard orders only the blue 16- and 32-page books. Radcliffe also has blue books but numbers them in sequence--to keep tabs on their where-abouts. Some Harvard books have a thin black banner across the corner just to keep the undergraduate honest.

Boston College prefers to alternate five different colors to keep examgoers guessing. B.U. and M.I.T. have no covers on their exam books and, oddly enough, do not call them "blue books."

About now--as in January--the stock of exam books at the Hammett factory is quite low. Not only are employees kept busy rebuilding the inventory, but they also publish thousands of school diplomas in May (not Harvard's).

The examination book process is rather simple: Large rolls of paper--3 ft. wide and 1300-2000 lbs.--are cut into pieces that are printed first with several blue lines, then (after a 90-degree turn) with a red line. Covers are added along the way; the whole works is stapled, folded, and pressed; and the long pieces are cut into four conventional-sized booklets. They are packaged, shipped directly to the examination hall, and unpacked by various proctor-types.

From there, scribbling students take over. And the boys who count the receipts at Hammett's--if not the graders--are hoping that undergraduates will get a chance to write on and on and on