Increasingly, American universities are introducing the usual "paper" exams for students: tasks on ordinary paper that must be completed "by hand", or special notebooks for exams (Blue Book) - but also paper. The Wall Street Journal has already noted that Texas A&M University has purchased 30% more notebooks than usual, and the University of Florida has purchased as much as 50% more than last year.
Such notebooks are especially often used at the faculties of humanities and/or social sciences: these are 4-12 sheets specially marked for performing detailed tasks - lengthy answers, essays, presentations, analyses. However, now not only humanitarians work with Blue Book: exam notebooks have begun to be introduced in both technical and legal areas, for future managers and for other specialties.
The main reason for the return to "analog" exams is the widespread use of ChatGPT and other chatbots, AI agents for study (in particular, for essays and tests). Recent studies show that the majority of American schoolchildren and students practically do not know how to write by hand!
However, not all teachers agree with this "return to the roots": they say, modern students will still have to work with AI all their lives, it will not go anywhere and will only be more actively introduced, which means that we need to learn how to use it as efficiently as possible, environmentally friendly and competently. In addition, written works are much longer and more difficult to check than electronic texts: what is written by hand is checked manually (many teachers are already used to saving time). Time will tell how stable the practice will be, in what combination electronic and written (manual) exams will remain.
