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Exams: Why is there no choice on whether we can do it paper based or laptop based?

I find this quite strange, given how technology is rapidly advancing and becoming more and more frequently used in the working world, that are exams are still lagging behind forcing students to do them paper based instead of laptop based.

I can understand giving students the choice because some are faster writing than they are typing but for someone like myself who can type a hell lot faster than I can write, it'd be a lot more beneficial for me to do all exams with a laptop.

Of course all these laptops would have their wireless network capabilities disabled to prevent someone from accessing the internet and cheating in the exam.
Original post by mos182
I find this quite strange, given how technology is rapidly advancing and becoming more and more frequently used in the working world, that are exams are still lagging behind forcing students to do them paper based instead of laptop based.

I can understand giving students the choice because some are faster writing than they are typing but for someone like myself who can type a hell lot faster than I can write, it'd be a lot more beneficial for me to do all exams with a laptop.

Of course all these laptops would have their wireless network capabilities disabled to prevent someone from accessing the internet and cheating in the exam.


I think it all comes down to cost and logistics, I have pc use for all my exams as a reasonable adjustment and they have to have 2 invigilators just for us. So depending on how many pc rooms you need that would be a lot of invigilators to pay for one exam.
Original post by mos182
I find this quite strange, given how technology is rapidly advancing and becoming more and more frequently used in the working world, that are exams are still lagging behind forcing students to do them paper based instead of laptop based.

I can understand giving students the choice because some are faster writing than they are typing but for someone like myself who can type a hell lot faster than I can write, it'd be a lot more beneficial for me to do all exams with a laptop.

Of course all these laptops would have their wireless network capabilities disabled to prevent someone from accessing the internet and cheating in the exam.


Exams aren't about speed of writing. They are generally about precision of answering. However, I do take your point. I was always flummoxed by programming exams at uni that had me writing out code by hand in order to answer a question.
It would make sense for exams to go that way, I'm sure there are lots of people who would work better on a laptop - it also allows you to edit and therefore be more confident about starting to write. As others have said, logistics would be tough as so many students would want laptops, you also run a risk that something technology-related goes wrong!

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