in/on the examinations

"on" the examinations is correct.

Thanks.

To me, "on" doesn't look right, Roberta.

Surely he had participated "in" these examinations, no?

His performance in the exams.
His performance on the exams.

His performance on the football match.
His performance on bed.
His performance on the concert.

Doesn't look right, sorry.

Yes, Doowop. He participated in them. But how did he do ON them? Fine.

It's impossible to create a standard for prepositions. Sometimes you use in; sometimes you use on. How someone did in bed or in the football game has nothing to do with how he did on the exams.

He doesn't know how he'd done ON them at that stage, Roberta. His concern was merely how he had performed IN them, fearing that he hadn't performed very well. I quite agree that he will eventually find out how he'd done ON them, though.

Maybe it's a US/UK English thing. A very common question in the UK would be "So, how did you do in your exams?"

Maybe he should have replaced the in/on with "during".

Aha! Mystery solved. Another UK-US difference. I've never heard anyone say, "So, how did you do in your exams?" It's always been "on" on this side of the pond.

He did well on his exam at his desk in the classroom.

definitly "in" for me which supports the British english theory.

In/on is usually defined by the physicality.

In - defined edge which encloses . as in "within"

"On" when the noun does not fully enclose.

A man sits in a tree. He sits within the confines and borders of the tree.
A man sits on a branch

Now show me examples where my definition doesn't work smartybums.