They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now (because of ChatGPT) Blue Books Are Back.

The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 23, 2025 | Ben Cohen

[DoodleBob]

…Students outsourcing their assignments to AI and cheating their way through college has become so rampant, so quickly, that it has created a market for a product that helps professors ChatGPT-proof school. As it turns out, that product already exists. In fact, you’ve probably used it. You might even dread it.

It’s called a blue book.

…

All of which explains how a paper company in Pennsylvania has unexpectedly found itself on the front lines of the classroom AI wars.

Most blue books for sale in campus bookstores and on Amazon for 23 cents apiece are made by Roaring Spring Paper Products. The family-owned business was founded more than a century ago in Roaring Spring, a small borough outside Altoona that has become the blue-book capital of America. The company now sells a few million of these classic exam books every year and all of them are manufactured in the U.S., said Kristen Allen, its vice president of sales and marketing.

…

Sales of blue books this school year were up more than 30% at Texas A&M University and nearly 50% at the University of Florida. The improbable growth was even more impressive at the University of California, Berkeley. Over the past two academic years, blue-book sales at the Cal Student Store were up 80%.

…

But even professors who have gone analog to defeat the latest technology are deeply conflicted about it. Many of them believe students should be using AI to get smarter. It would be stupid not to. These tools will be a part of their lives and knowing how to use them effectively will be an important advantage in their future workplaces.

[hcmama]

I still have a bunch of my old blue book exams from college and grad school!

At the end of your work, we were required to write: "On my honor as a student, I have neither given nor received aid on this exam."

[lewislynn]

Think about not being able to tell time on an analog clock or being able to read and write cursive...or driving a stick shift