Analog Is Back: How to Succeed at Oral & Blue Book Exams

As the adoption of Generative AI in education becomes increasingly widespread, it is natural that our methods of assessment adjust accordingly. Take-home assignments are easily enhanced by or even completed by AI, making it more difficult for teachers to measure what students actually know. In response to this, teachers are increasingly turning to on-the-spot, real-time measures of student knowledge requiring that students “stand and deliver” in written or spoken formats. 

Neither ChatGPT, Claude, nor Gemini can assist in these types of assessments. Success in these formats requires a mastery of skills that are outside the realm of AI prompt engineering. Preparation for assessments in these classic formats requires discrete strategies and approaches, which can be taught and mastered. In the broader conversation about AI and education, these shifts are bringing in-class essays, blue book exams, and oral exams back to the center of the classroom.

Why Analog Assessments and In‑Class Essays Are Making a Comeback

The blue book exam, oral exams, and other analog formats are resurfacing because they allow instructors to evaluate thinking in real time. In-class essays and live presentations reduce the opportunity for outside assistance and highlight genuine comprehension and reasoning.

What Is a Blue Book Exam?

The humble blue book exam emerged some 100 years ago, at Butler University, whose blue and white school colors became the chromatic standard for the covers of written assessments across the country. Blue books became pervasive at the secondary and post-secondary level but faded in favor during the early 21^st century as digital assessment formats came to dominate. But don’t count them out just yet, for blue books are making a comeback! The Wall Street Journal reported on this trend, citing rising demand at Roaring Spring Paper Products, the company responsible for printing the majority of blue books in circulation at universities across America. Sales of blue book exam booklets are estimated to have increased by up to 80% at individual universities over the past year. Professors are increasingly returning to this time-tested assessment format to counterbalance the revolution created by machine writing.

How to Master Blue Book Exam Writing

To write in real time requires the ability to plan before putting pen to paper. Rounds and rounds of revision are not available in this format: students need to have conceptualized their answer, their supporting evidence, and their conclusion before commencing writing. This initial pause, this preliminary conceptual mapping, requires discipline and facilitates better, more fluid writing.

While the pause is critical, for many students, it is not instinctive. Many students read the prompt and immediately begin writing without contemplating the ideal path towards their conclusion. This is where explicit instruction is fundamental: teaching students to stop, put down their pencil, and consider before acting. Students need to plan how to clearly present their thesis, how to structure supporting evidence for that thesis, and ensure they address every element of the posed question to achieve full credit. Despite the time pressure, impulsivity must yield to reflection, form, and structure to optimize performance in these formats.

To hone their skills, students should prepare by quickly outlining responses to multiple potential exam questions. Rather than fleshing out complete essays, students can rehearse the quick outline: take a challenging question from the chapter and, within 2-3 minutes, draft an outline containing a thesis, an intro, key evidence, and a conclusion. The ability to rapidly structure a response to a question develops with deliberate practice and pays off on in-class essays and blue book exams alike.

Aligning Your Studying for In‑Class Essays

If students anticipate being assessed through long-form written responses, they must anticipate questions that may be asked and plan out potential responses in advance. This may entail laying out evidence for a particular question and coming up with mnemonics to facilitate recall. Students will have to retrieve details and evidence without memory supports. If they intend to retrieve course material in an organized and structured manner during an in-class essay assessment, students will have to structure and organize material into memorable chunks as they learn it.

Good Thinking Drives Good Writing (and Better In‑Class Blue Book Testing)

Just as reading is thinking with a book in your hand, writing is thinking with a pen/pencil (or keyboard) in your hand. Good writing presupposes good thinking: the two are inseparable. The ability to write is a highly transferable and valuable skill that will remain useful even in the age of AI. Teaching a student how to succeed on written exams, to express their thoughts in a clear, cogent and structured manner, will pay dividends beyond performance on any particular assessment. 

Oral Exams Are Also Making a Comeback

Just as professors and teachers are revisiting blue books, some instructors are integrating oral exams, Socratic dialogue, or direct question-and-answer sessions into their assessment strategy. 

Successfully responding to questions posed by a teacher requires clear and flexible thinking, recall, and organized communication under time pressure. To think and reason aloud and defend your thinking requires more than simply memorizing answers or phrases from a textbook.

How to Prepare for an Oral Exam

To present and defend ideas in a spoken format, students must organize their thoughts quickly and articulate these ideas aloud without the benefit of a written outline. Preparing for this form of assessment requires spoken practice, rehearsing potential questions, and even recording one’s answers to evaluate the quality of one’s response. Are the arguments clear and logical? Is there a natural transition from the thesis to the evidence to the conclusion? Some students will have the natural ability to think aloud, while others will need additional preparation to verbally deliver their ideas with confidence. Many students will find that the act of teaching someone else key concepts and defending their ideas when challenged will help strengthen their ability to present and master oral exams. 

The Benefits of Analog Assessments

Instructors who are shifting back to blue books, in-class essays, and oral exams find that their students benefit from the experience. Some teachers find that these formats more clearly reveal which students have a deeper, more coherent understanding of the material. Others have found that the handwritten format restores something highly personal and valuable to the teacher-student relationship. As noted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, one teacher noted that, “My students’ handwritten essays brim with their humanity. Each page conveys personality, craft, voice, and a “realness” that feels increasingly scarce in our screen-saturated, algorithmically-distorted information environment.”

Challenges for Digital Natives

Some students have never experienced long-form handwritten assessments and may require developing the stamina to complete exams. Other students may lack experience defending their ideas verbally in front of a classroom or organizing their thoughts and ideas on the fly. Some may experience anxiety about running out of time or adequately responding to the prompt in a timed condition. All of these skills, the stamina, and the self-regulation can be cultivated with deliberate practice.

Long‑Term Benefits Beyond the Exam

Success on these types of assessments requires that students transcend the simple retrieval of memorized information and directly and flexibly apply the information. Students who have not internalized and integrated the studied concepts will struggle to bring these concepts to bear in a more extemporaneous format. Once students develop the skills required to succeed on these assessments, they will have advantages when it comes to job interviews, presentations, and other aspects of professional life. 

How Tutors Can Help with Blue Book Exams, In‑Class Essays, and Oral Exams

Some teachers may give explicit instruction on how to prepare for and succeed in these classic assessment formats. If teachers don’t assist in the preparation, tutors can provide valuable instruction and opportunities for practice. Tutors can facilitate timed practice drills and lightning rounds to help students get better at thinking flexibly, “on their feet,” and then provide timely feedback. Tutors can help students hone their communication skills for written and oral exams. Given the right preparation, students can excel in these classic assessment formats and even find them rewarding. Developing superior written and spoken communication skills has applications that transcend the classroom. Students who emerge from school as stronger writers and more confident speakers will have advantages that persist long after the bluebooks are gone.

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