Re:Giving University Exams in the Age of Chatbots
by jll29 on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @10:00AM
(#46692467)
I have a colleague who does that.
My students then often ask me to do the same, to permit them to bring one page of notes as he does.
Then I would say: just assume you're writing the exam with him and work on your one-pager of notes, optimize your notes by copying and re-writing them a few times. Now, the only difference between my exam and his exam is that the night before, you memorize your one-pager (if you re-wrote it a few times you should be able to recreate it purely from memory from that practice alone).
I believe having had all material in your memory at the same time, at least once for a short while, gives students higher self-confidence; they may forget stuff again, but they hopefully remember the feeling of mastering it.
My students then often ask me to do the same, to permit them to bring one page of notes as he does.
Then I would say: just assume you're writing the exam with him and work on your one-pager of notes, optimize your notes by copying and re-writing them a few times. Now, the only difference between my exam and his exam is that the night before, you memorize your one-pager (if you re-wrote it a few times you should be able to recreate it purely from memory from that practice alone).
I believe having had all material in your memory at the same time, at least once for a short while, gives students higher self-confidence; they may forget stuff again, but they hopefully remember the feeling of mastering it.