Les garçons ont passé leur examen et tous l'ont eu.

Question

isn't it the other way around?
Les garçons ont eu leur examen et tous l'ont passé.

Accepted Answer

Hi Daniel,
As Chris says,  in French,
passer un examen, means to take an exam and
avoir un examen means to have passed it
 It is what we call a faux-ami ( false friend or false cognate) you think it means the same in English but this is not the case. You will meet quite a few of those as you are learning.
To give another example , compare ,
Il passe son permis de conduire demain . ( He is taking his driving test tomorrow )
and
Ça y est ! il a son permis ( de conduire) , That's it ! He's passed his driving licence.
Hope this helps!

Answer

Well, no, actually.

Passer un examen -- to take an exam (not necessarily tompass it). 
Avoir un examen -- to pass it.

This is confusing because in English it seems to be zhe other way round.

-- Chris (not a native speaker)

P.S.: I have been told, however, that this distinction is lost on many native French speakers.