In person exams prompt outcry with students

By Lola Lea

Students in outrage at shirt notice for paper exams (Image: Getty Images)

The Glasgow University School of Life Sciences has announced that exams will be held in-person rather than online amid fears that AI is being used by students to cheat.  

Students in the 3rd and 4th years were told that their exams would now be in person, but just six weeks ago they were told they would be online. While this change is to combat students using AI, it has only been applied to one of the university’s schools.  

William McFaul, 22, a 4th year Glasgow University School of Law student, said: “While it may not be fully AI answers that are being given, students are definitely able to manipulate what is given by AI using their own words.”  

However, Hannah Ehrlich, 21, a third year student of Marine and Freshwater Biology at Glasgow University, said: “Six weeks ago they were saying it’s going to be online for the rest of your Uni career, and now they’re saying AI’s got so much better, but in the past six weeks?”  

Online exams, require a more in-depth understanding of the topic, but students can refer to their notes. In-person, closed book exams require most revision time to largely be spent memorising information.  

Students believe they haven’t been given enough time

Isla Tornero-Russell, 23, a graduate from the School of Life Sciences said: “I think they should have been told at the start if they were going to have them in person, because what you have to revise for them is completely different.”  

In the announcement email, students were told that they would have plenty of support from the university to prepare for these exams, but this comes just two months before they begin.  

Ehrlich said: “I think our personal course coordinators have been quite good because they were not happy about the decision either, some of them weren’t even kept in the loop.”