Pens Down

"But these early examinations were oral. The goal was often rote memorization: getting students to recite text verbatim. These 'recitations,' as they were called, were despised by students, required almost no intellectual analysis, and became increasingly hard to manage as college enrollment climbed and class sizes grew. Consequently, in the 1830s, Yale and Harvard began introducing written biennial tests. The notion spread, and by the late 19th century, such exams had become accepted practice on many campuses, according to John R. Thelin, author of 'A History of American Higher Education.'
"'Prior to that time,' Thelin said, 'the idea that undergraduates would have known how to, or been inclined to, write three-hour essays on some intellectual topic would have been pretty unlikely.'"

In The Boston Globe, Keith O’Brien discusses the decline of final exams at Harvard.