Comment by lucumo

My college classes usually had one offline written test per quarter, and about half the classes had an assignment with them. I can see how those would be easier to cheat on now, though they were already hardly cheat-free. (Not just plagiarism, also free-riding on group assignments for example.) The written examinations carried the heaviest load precisely because of that.

Offline written tests solve the issue quite well. They scale well too. At least as far as assignments do.

People saying that oral examinations are the last bastion of cheat-free examinations are really over-stating the case.

> But some universities (maybe most) have massive classes where a professor may never have an actual conversation with some students.

Probably most yeah. At least it was my experience.