Article with exam: 'at, in and on'

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi

I have been seeing the following articles with the word exam:

Would you say all are OK? What is your preferance?

1- He did very well in, on , at his examination.

Tom

2

Hi Tom,

You’ve made a typo. They are not articles but prepositions :wink:

3

Many thanks, Pamela. In fact, I just wanted to check how good a proof-reader you were! :smiley:

Tom

4

.
‘At’ sounds a little unusual to me. Ms Google supports my feeling, but others may differ.
.

5

Hi Tom,

Your sentence:

If I had a choice, I would plump for ‘in’. ‘On’ suggests to me something more specific - on the day of the exam, his examination on Tuesday, his examination on geography. ‘At’ makes me think of the place he took the examination.

A

6

Hi Tom

My North American ear finds ‘on’ to be the most typical by far. The word ‘in’ suggests ‘in the exam room’ to me and ‘at’ sounds odd (but would also suggest location to me).