The University of Oxford has announced that some Finals and Preliminary Exams will be taken as in-person typed exams in the 2023-2024 academic year.
The computer-based exams will be sat by Biochemistry, Classics, English, Theology, and MBA students.
A number of subjects will have typed Preliminary exams, alongside âseveral Social Sciences Division and Humanities MPhilsâ exams.
The University said that the movement of exams from written to typed follows âa successful launch involving more than 6,000 exam sittings in 2022/23â.
Their decision aims to âreflect the experience of most students who now type essays and other submissions, and also provide more legible scripts for assessorsâ.
Extending invigilated, typed exams to more subjects follows previous precedent. 1,903 candidates have previously sat online Preliminary Exams across 22 exam boards, including Geography, Medicine, Philosophy, and Politics.
Law Moderations for first-year students alongside Finals have also been online and open book since 2020. The announcement that 2021 would be held online was met with exams being met with calls for more consistency. The Politics Department confirmed at the same time that students would return to in-person exams at Exam Schools in 2022.
English students were informed of the change in October ahead of the exams which will take place in Trinity term of 2024. The discussion surrounding typed exams for English students happened in a JCC meet in May of 2023, which the English Faculty later approved.
The University apologised for not releasing details of the shift to typing sooner, as well as emphasising that these will still be invigilated, closed-book exams.
It also expressed that there is the opportunity for students to book hour-long practice sessions for typed tests in order to orientate themselves to the change.
Image credit: Daniel Foster via flickr
