this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
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I realize I'm probably in the minority here, but I infinitely preferred blue books over take-home essays. I love learning so I would usually fully engage with lectures and readings, but given two weeks and a blank document my ADHD and perfectionism would drive me up the wall and I'd often take a fat zero on the assignment. On the other hand, if you just shoved a blue book in my face and told me to write a few short essays in two hours, I'd make it happen somehow and then I could walk out of the exam having only endured a few hours of moderate stress instead of weeks of torturing myself.
I'm right there with you. I actually preferred the time constraint of an in-class essay over a take-home essay. I think it also helped me think on my feet better and form a cogent argument off the cuff. When I took essays home, I would agonize over every word and re-write sentences a hundred times.
My unpopular opinion is that I have always preferred essay tests to multiple choice or true-false (especially true-false).
Essay or even short form free answer questions are much better at gauging comprehension. Limited choice response tests are about test taking.
A friend, who is a bit of a jerk, decided to prove a point to one of his classes. Each of his tests had a multiple choice, a short answer, and short essay sections.
One test, all the multiple choice answers were "B", except the last one. Most of the class got it right but almost all of them circled B first.
He did the opposite to a different class - all the answers were C. A fair number of students marked B then switched it to C.
The best thing is that the wrong answers weren't trick answers.
Agreed, but take-home-tests were a different kind of exam and i'm curious if there are practical ways of keeping them. Maybe questions worded in ways LLMs interpret wrong?
Maybe you could have a study hall on campus inside a faraday cage, that has computers linked to a digital library. No electronic devices allowed inside except those provided, so no internet and no chatgpt, but yes research materials and access to your books. You can even show up with friends and collaborate!
The "take home" essay must be done in the room. You can take however much time you need but you can't leave until its done.