The final section, , was a wildcard. It showed a photograph of a broken wheelbarrow—one wooden handle cracked, the wheel bent, the tray rusted. The question: “List five improvements you would make to this wheelbarrow using modern materials and mechanisms. Justify each improvement.”
With thirty minutes left, Thabo went back to the questions he’d skipped. He reread the bridge structural member one. Transfer loads. Yes. He filled it in. He checked his gear train diagram and added a label for the idler gear. He counted his marks: if he got half of Section A, half of B, most of C, a few in D, and full marks in E, he might just scrape 55%. A pass.
Later, walking out of the classroom into the winter afternoon, Thabo saw a construction crane across the street. For a moment, he didn’t just see a machine. He saw hydraulic rams extending, gear trains turning, counterweights balancing, and a truss-like jib transferring loads. The question paper was over. But the seeing—that had just begun.