“Writing exams with ChatGPT is okay” – one student unpacks

People around me drew my attention to ChatGPT when I complained about the time pressure caused by the semester exams. At that time I worked a lot and had almost no time to study.

Since the pandemic, we write many exams on location, but on a laptop and open book. This means that tools such as summaries and the internet may be used.

So I decided to study the material in a way that I could understand but not memorize. Doing nothing at all was out of the question. Otherwise I would not have been able to judge whether the answers from the chat were correct.

The only risk in the end was that they would block the site from the network. Fortunately, that did not happen. In my case, that wouldn’t have been a bad thing. In preparation, I already solved last year’s exam with artificial intelligence. This was provided to us to study.

Since at least 80 percent of the questions were identical to this year’s exam and I had the old ones saved on my laptop, I was able to copy almost all of the answers. The rest I solved with ChatGPT on site. I was done in 20 minutes and I had over an hour left.

I used this time to review and complete the questions. In addition, you must replace all German doubles. If you want to write your next exam like this, don’t forget it. Otherwise you stand out.

But I wasn’t afraid of getting caught. You see where the supervisor is in the room. If she’s with you, don’t open the chat at that time. In short, I think I followed the rules. We were allowed to use Google. I was just smart enough to google “ChatGPT”.

Many students cheat anyway. They take exams or have their work written by ghostwriters. These are things I never did during my entire studies. Nor have I broken the rules.

That’s why I don’t have a bad conscience. If a university takes an almost identical exam multiple times, gives it to its students, and doesn’t question whether the mode is still up to date, I don’t mind using certain resources to my advantage. You’re moving with the times, aren’t you?

Universities should do the same. Today’s exam system is a joke, it’s totally outdated. The fact is that this artificial intelligence exists and is increasingly being integrated into our working world. I know companies that are already working with it.

So why don’t we learn how to do this in a university? This chat provides an enormous amount of information in a very short time. We should learn to classify and examine them.

By the way, I’m not the only one. Everyone around me who had the opportunity wrote their exam with ChatGPT. The results were excellent. A friend of mine got six grades twice. For me it was a 5.5 by the way.

This also applies to work. I know people who have written theses of up to 40 pages with it. I myself use the chat there for creative input, for additions and for research. But even there: in the end I have to check the sources myself. That’s why I don’t think I earned my degree less than others by using artificial intelligence.

We won’t be able to write our exams like this for long anyway. A friend’s teacher said that the university is currently purchasing software to block ChatGPT. If this fails in the next exams, they rely on the honesty of the students.

Recorded by: Sina Alpiger