After the young men had been seated the examination papers in English were passed around.

This examination Dick thought absurdly easy.

He finished his paper early, and read it through three times while waiting for the papers to be collected.
History was a bit harder, but Dick was not especially disturbed by it.

Not quite so with geography.

Dick had had no instruction in this branch since his grammar school days, and, though he had brushed up much of late on this subject, he found himself compelled to go slowly and thoughtfully.