For students

Cambridge University may end handwritten exams

The world-renowned Cambridge University is considering abolishing handwritten exams after 800 years. University officials may ask students to type their exam answers on a computer rather than use a pen. The move follows complaints from examination markers who say they are finding test papers increasingly illegible due to poor handwriting. Academics say today's students primarily use laptops in lectures and tutorials instead of pens. Students are losing the ability to write by hand. One academic said asking students to hand-write exams actually causes them physical difficulties. The muscles in their hand are not used to writing extensively for prolonged periods of two to three hours.

A Cambridge University lecturer, Dr Sarah Pearsall, told Britain's 'Daily Telegraph' newspaper that handwriting was becoming a "lost art". She said: "Twenty years ago, students routinely [wrote] by hand several hours a day, but now they write virtually nothing by hand, except exams." She added: "We have been concerned for years about the declining handwriting problem. There has definitely been a downward trend. It is difficult for both the students and the examiners as it is harder and harder to read these [exam] scripts." Dr Pearsall says some students' handwriting is so illegible that they had to return to the university over the summer to read their answers out loud to examiners who could not read their writing.

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

1. Cambridge University has had hand written exams for 800 years.     T / F
2. Exam markers complained they could not read exam papers.     T / F
3. Students still use pens more than computers in lectures.     T / F
4. Cambridge University students have stronger hand muscles.     T / F
5. A Cambridge University lecturer called handwriting a fine art.     T / F
6. She said students used keyboards a lot 20 years ago.     T / F
7. The lecturer said there was an upward trend in legibility.    T / F
8. Students had to read their exam scripts out loud to examiners.     T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1. abolishing
2. rather than
3. complaints
4. primarily
5. prolonged
6. routinely
7. virtually
8. concerned
9. illegible
10. handwriting

1. grumbles
2. regularly
3. worried
4. instead of
5. penmanship
6. getting rid of
7. unreadable
8. lengthy
9. mainly
10. almost

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1. Cambridge University is considering
2. students primarily
3. causes them physical
4. not used to
5. prolonged periods
6. handwriting was becoming a
7. Twenty years ago, students routinely
8. There has definitely been a downward
9. students' handwriting is so
10. read their answers

1. wrote by hand
2. writing extensively
3. illegible
4. "lost art"
5. difficulties
6. abolishing handwritten exams
7. out loud
8. of two to three hours
9. trend
10. use laptops in lectures