The lucky pen
A pen that has already passed one exam is kept for the next, and lending it out is said to lend the luck with it.
Performance superstition
Exam superstitions
Exam superstitions: a lucky pen, unwashed clothes, the same route, no congratulations before the result. First recorded: 20th century, alongside mass schooling. That makes it a 20th-century belief — joint youngest of the 45 superstitions we have dated.
- Earliest record
- 20th century alongside mass schooling
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
20th century, alongside mass schooling
That makes it
a 20th-century belief
Rank by age
Joint youngest of 45 dated here
Category
Performance
Formal examinations only became universal in the last hundred years, so these rituals are genuinely modern — lucky pens, the same seat, the same breakfast. They follow the pattern of sports rituals rather than folklore.
Every other dated superstition here was written down earlier, apart from one dated to the same time.
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The versions people follow
What exactly is believed
Same seat, same breakfast
Repeating exactly what you did before a good result — the route, the meal, the clothes — is supposed to repeat the result.
No early congratulations
Wishing someone good luck, or celebrating before results are out, is said to jinx the outcome.
Sticky rice and Kit Kats
In Korea students are given sticky rice cakes so that the answers "stick"; in Japan Kit Kat is a gift because its name echoes "kitto katsu", "surely win".
How the bad luck is traditionally undone
If the lucky pen is lost, some students pass the role to a new one by using it on a practice paper that went well — a ritual transfer rather than a cure.
Where it lives today
Exam rituals are still common among students, especially in the high-stakes exam cultures listed below; what research says about them follows.
What people say
A lucky pen, unwashed clothes, the same route, no congratulations before the result.What is going on
Rituals have been found to lower anxiety before a performance, which can help through calm rather than luck. The claim that a lucky charm raises scores has not held up when experiments were repeated.Where it applies. Strongest in high-stakes exam cultures — Korea, Japan, China, India.
Other performance superstitions
Nearest in age
Exam superstitions are joint youngest of the 45 dated superstitions here. Of those, 3 date from 1900 or later and 14 predate the common era.
First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Exam Superstitions: Origin, Meaning and When It Began.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/superstitions/exams/
For Wikipedia
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