（1）試験の＿＿静かにしてください。
1　うち　　　　2　あいだは　　3　まに　　　　　4　うちに

I got this question from a previous JLPT2 exam. The answer is (2). Why can't I use (4)? What is the difference between うちに　and うちは?

(I know あいだは is not うちは, but they are similar enough)

うち carries a slightly different nuance from あいだ.

Ex (negative) 溶けないうちに食べてね (eat it before it melts)
Ex (positive) あったかいうちに食べてね (eat it while it's still warm)

In both cases the nuance is doing something/something happening while the condition holds true. After the condition ends it will be "too late".

あいだ on the other hand simply means "during a, b" without the sense of urgency. It describes a specific time duration instead of the sense of "while a condition holds true". It is strange to say "Please be quiet while it's still the test (it'll be too late to be quiet afterwards)" instead of just "Please be quiet during the test".

There is no ~うちは, unless you are using うち to mean "me" or "house".

To clarify further, あいだ refers to something that continues for the whole duration of something else.　あいだに refers to something that occurs and finishes during the duration of something else. うちに and あいだに are pretty similar, but うちに gives the sense of urgency and also I think tends to refer to something that we don't know when it will start or finish.

So

試験のあいだ静かにしてください。- Please be quite during the exam.
試験のあいだに静かにしてください - Please become quite at some point during the exam.

EDIT: And if you include は 試験のあいだは静かにしてください。- Please be quite whilst the exam is being conducted (but you can make noise at other times)

詳しい！Good explanations guys

Awesome. When I read the top post, I could feel that うちに was incorrect, but I couldn't explain why. Now I can