As elite colleges and their admissions offices continue to navigate widespread use of AI-assisted writing, grade inflation, and extensive outside support, many are re-examining how best to assess a student’s genuine intellectual engagement. In response, oral examinations are re-emerging as a way of evaluating how students actually think.

 

Oral exams assess skills that cannot be outsourced: verbal clarity, intellectual agility, true command of the content, and composure under questioning. They require students to explain ideas aloud, defend claims in real time, and respond thoughtfully to follow-up questions.

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The Reason & Rationality Oral Exam Competition & Training Program is the first oral exam contest of its kind for high school students, and it reflects the kind of intellectual evaluation students will increasingly encounter in college seminars, interviews, and advanced coursework.​ The two-week Reason & Rationality Program includes training in how best to prepare for oral exams. Students who participate receive focused preparation in how to:

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• Process of crafting compelling oral arguments

• Understand the criteria in which oral exams are evaluated

• Think aloud with clarity and structure

• Defend claims under sustained questioning

• Respond thoughtfully to challenges and counterarguments

• Maintain composure and intellectual openness in evaluative conversations

 

For students who wish to go further, Reason & Rationality also offers an optional Oral Exam Competition, the first of its kind for high school students. ​The competition is open to students attending the full 2-week program. Participation is free for students in the Advanced Program (returning Reason & Rationality alumni) and is $700 for all other students. We are especially excited to announce that Benjamin Morison, the Chair of the Princeton University Philosophy Department, will join the judging panel for the 2026 competition.

 

Winners and Honorable Mention results from the Reason & Rationality Oral Exam Competition will be published online providing students a unique and meaningful opportunity to stand out in their college applications.