I think this is a terrible idea as I can't possibly see how they would stop a crafty student from modifying his own computer and putting in a radio link that ca

I think this is a terrible idea as I can't possibly see how they would stop a crafty student from modifying his own computer and putting in a radio link that can reach well outside the exam room in a frequency they aren't detecting (my university sniff cell phones) from getting external help. I don't however agree that exams should be written on paper but that you should be given the option of using a computer to write on if you choose too. Incremental backups to a computer that can print could easily save any sudden local crashes but honestly all I personally am asking for is a text editor and absolutely nothing else, I don't expect that to die short of hardware failure. Even if the computers failed all the time and all data was lost it should be up to the student to take that risk, they've got no one but themselves to blame if such a system had a high failure rate (which I don't think it would). I hate doing exams that are generally scheduled for 4-6 hours as I virtually never write anything by hand and haven't done so for years, so after about 30 minutes (probably less) I get terrible cramp. The whole experience is just terribly painful which doesn't exactly improve my willingness to sit and refine what I've written once I'm done. My university doesn't even let us do programming exams on a computer.