Blue book exam
A blue book exam is a type of test administered at many post-secondary schools in the United States and India. Blue book exams typically include one or more essays or short-answer questions to be written under the supervision of the instructor, oftentimes on special blue paper provided by the school.[1] The instructor may provide students with a list of possible essay topics prior to the test itself and will then choose one or let the student choose from two or more topics that appear on the test.
Blue books can prevent some forms of academic cheating with pre-written booklets by having students submit their blank blue books and randomly re-distributing them, or starting on or skipping certain pages.[2][3]
History
Butler University in Indianapolis was the first to introduce exam blue books, which first appeared in the late 1920s.[4] They were given a blue color because Butler's school colors are blue and white; therefore they were named "blue books".[5]
Starting in 2024, blue book exams experienced a significant resurgence in popularity within higher education as a direct response to the widespread use of large language models for academic cheating.[6][7]
See also
References
- ↑ Ropek, Lucas (May 27, 2025). "AI Cheating Is So Out of Hand In America's Schools That the Blue Books Are Coming Back". Gizmodo. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
- ↑ "Prevention Strategies". The Institute for Learning and Teaching. Colorado State University. Retrieved August 5, 2026.
- ↑ "Preventing Academic Dishonesty". Office of Academic Integrity. University of Missouri. Retrieved August 5, 2026.
- ↑ "Blue Books — The agony and ecstasy of final exams", UVA magazine, Spring 2013.
- ↑ Kingsbury, Alex. "Road Trip: Butler University", U.S. News & World Report, 16 August 2010.
- ↑ Cohen, Ben (May 23, 2025). "They Were Every Student's Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
- ↑ Shirky, Clay (August 26, 2025). "Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis". New York Times. Retrieved September 8, 2025.