I went to university long before covid, and all the old exams + usually the (professors) solutions were available online, mostly on professors own websites, so

I went to university long before covid, and all the old exams + usually the (professors) solutions were available online, mostly on professors own websites, so the students would know what types of assignments were on exams and could prepare properly (there was still a very wide variety). Exams were done in classrooms, with multiple people (usually TAs) watching, pen, paper, usually notes/book or even old exams were allowed (or at minimum 1 sheet of whatever you wanted on). Yeah sure, some minimal cheating was still possible, but not a lot.