Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude have started influencing the way that universities and institutions of higher education operate. AI has not only changed the ways in which professors navigate their classrooms, but it has also upended long-established systems for exams.
This change is well-illustrated by the economics department, which has begun administering only in-person final exams. Senior Lecturer Smita Brunnermeier, the executive director of undergraduate studies for the economics department, spoke with The Daily Princetonian about how this policy development first came to be considered.
“Some of our students submitted a request to the department to switch to in-class final exams,” Brunnermeier said. “The request was discussed in our Undergraduate Steering Committee meeting, and both the faculty and student members of this committee unanimously agreed that the policy made sense given concerns of AI use and academic honesty.”
The ‘Prince’ analyzed the final assessment schedules for the last three semesters to better understand how the University is trying to tackle concerns relating to cheating and AI. The number of take-home exams has been continuously declining over the last three semesters. In Spring 2025, they were more popular than in-person finals, but just a year later, they have become scarce as generative AI has become more commonplace, with only 49 take-home exams being administered this semester.
By analyzing the types of exams given, it becomes easier to understand why projects and papers have maintained their lead over in-person final exams.The majority of the University’s offered majors are in the humanities or social sciences, which often rely more heavily on papers and assessments, while natural sciences and engineering courses tend to hold in-person final exams. As such, these other types of non-exam final projects take up a greater share of the collective data. For example, the Writing Seminars, which are required for every first-year student, all have project and paper-based finals, as do the majority of Freshman Seminars and classes in the School of Public and International Affairs — two types of classes which large swaths of undergraduates tend to enroll in. Consequently, as take-home final exams have become less common, non-exam-based assessments have increasingly taken hold.
Exam timings have shifted slightly throughout the last three semesters: in Spring 2026, more exams are held in the afternoon when compared to Fall 2025. Most in-person finals will be held 12:30–3:30 p.m., while most other assessments will take place from 4–7 p.m.
The number of take-home exams have more than halved in number since this time last year, from 168 to 49. There were more take-home exams in the Spring 2025 semester than there were in-person finals. Now, there are less than 50 take-home exams scheduled. From Spring to Fall 2025, the number of in-person exams has increased by over 50 percent. The number of papers, projects, and presentations have increased by 61 exams in the span of only a year.
During the final assessment period, in-person exams are more common at the start and end of the week. This is in direct contrast to the scheduling of papers, projects, and presentations, which peak in the middle of finals season, specifically on May 10. Even at its peak, the number of take-home exams is much lower than the other two options.
Brunnermeier gave some insight into the in-person exam policy’s future. “We don’t have enough observations yet to know whether [getting rid of take-home exams] has significantly impacted outcomes like student learning and grade distribution,” she stated. “That said, faculty members who have spoken to their students after the policy was implemented report that the vast majority of their students stated that they were supportive of or had neutral feelings about this change, so we do not foresee a return to take-home exams.”
The impact of generative AI on the University’s future is still unclear. As these tools rapidly change and their reach expands, individual departments and University administration as a whole have fought to preserve academic integrity. It is hard to say if take-home exams will ever regain their popularity over in-person finals — but regardless of what happens, nothing is certain except death, taxes, and exams.
Veda Devireddy is an assistant Data editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Baton Rouge, La. and can be reached at veda[at]princeton.edu.
David Estrada is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Los Angeles and can be reached at de8214[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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