While going through Swan's PEU, I encountered this sentence in its example:
My parents expected too much of me when I was at school. They were terribly upset when I failed my exams.
Now this triggers a question in my mind.
Which ones are acceptable?
I passed exams
I passed in exams
I failed exams
I failed in exams
Okay, if 'in' is incorrect, how do we say passing or failing in a particular subject?
I passed/failed in math (exams) OR
I passed/failed math (exams)
What if I remove the parenthesis? I failed math does not seem a valid sentence.
Note: InE seems to be fine with passing/failing in exams as I hear almost everyone practicing it.
Best Answer
Is certainly a valid sentence in AmE. In general I would say using "in" with the examples you note sounds strange. My tendency would be to go with
Having said that it feels like usually you actually talk about failing a class (which "I failed math" is really an example of) more often then failing a given exam. But that is probbably due more to the fact that in the US where I taught the final grade is in general derived from many factors (multiple exams and homework) and as such "failing" a given exam doesn't make as much sense as in a system where you just have one oral exam at the end.
Edit: Thinking about it more when you say "I failed in exams", to me that sounds most like you had a course in creating examinations and you failed that.