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Comment by Krasnol

15 hours ago

I can't imagine why you would be so stupid to allow phones to exams.

Is this normal in the US?

Usually the rule is you can't have a phone out of your pocket or backpack during a test. Students still have phones on them. If they disallowed that too, how would that work, an airport security style check going in?

  • When I had exams in the 90s we'd have to hand phones in at the start. If the phone was seen during the exam, your test would be forfeited. If the rules were that strict then, I can't imagine how they could be less strict now given how much more powerful phones are today.

  • If NYC schools can do it at scale (1,600 schools this year banned cell phones), Princeton could certainly do it.

    Students either leave phones at home, or the school provides pouches/mini lockers for each student.

  • Yes, that kind of thing can and is done, if the stakes are high enough.

    • They do it for big standardized tests like the MCAT. If I went to school and saw this for every exam, I'd think wow I'm in a bad school, not that there's anything wrong with it per se but it's not commonly done.