# Large Language Model as an Assignment Evaluator: Insights, Feedback, and Challenges in a 1000+ Student Course

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.05216 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.05216/

## Key facts

- Cited by 19 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 30 of its 66 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 Jul 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 30)

- [Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02155/) (2022)
- [Llama 2: Open Foundation and Fine-Tuned Chat Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.09288/) (2023)
- [Judging LLM-as-a-Judge with MT-Bench and Chatbot Arena](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.05685/) (2023)
- [Direct Preference Optimization: Your Language Model is Secretly a Reward Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.18290/) (2023)
- [Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.06125/) (2022)
- [Zero-Shot Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.12092/) (2021)
- [Robust Speech Recognition via Large-Scale Weak Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04356/) (2022)
- [Self-Refine: Iterative Refinement with Self-Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17651/) (2023)
- [Universal and Transferable Adversarial Attacks on Aligned Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.15043/) (2023)
- [G-Eval: NLG Evaluation using GPT-4 with Better Human Alignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16634/) (2023)
- [Jailbroken: How Does LLM Safety Training Fail?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.02483/) (2023)
- [Ignore Previous Prompt: Attack Techniques For Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.09527/) (2022)
- [Can Large Language Models Be an Alternative to Human Evaluations?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.01937/) (2023)
- [Prompt Injection attack against LLM-integrated Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.05499/) (2023)
- [Prometheus: Inducing Fine-grained Evaluation Capability in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08491/) (2023)
- [Prometheus 2: An Open Source Language Model Specialized in Evaluating Other Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.01535/) (2024)
- [ToxiGen: A Large-Scale Machine-Generated Dataset for Adversarial and Implicit Hate Speech Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09509/) (2022)
- [How Far Can Camels Go? Exploring the State of Instruction Tuning on Open Resources](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.04751/) (2023)
- [A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Generalized Nested Jailbreak Prompts can Fool Large Language Models Easily](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.08268/) (2023)
- [SelfCheck: Using LLMs to Zero-Shot Check Their Own Step-by-Step Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00436/) (2023)
- [Benchmarking Cognitive Biases in Large Language Models as Evaluators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.17012/) (2023)
- [Branch-Solve-Merge Improves Large Language Model Evaluation and Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.15123/) (2023)
- [MeetingBank: A Benchmark Dataset for Meeting Summarization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17529/) (2023)
- [Cognitive Overload: Jailbreaking Large Language Models with Overloaded Logical Thinking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.09827/) (2023)
- [Applying Large Language Models and Chain-of-Thought for Automatic Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.03748/) (2023)
- [Large Language Models for Education: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.13001/) (2024)
- [Over-Reasoning and Redundant Calculation of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.11467/) (2024)
- [BatchEval: Towards Human-like Text Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.00437/) (2023)
- [Assessing Student Errors in Experimentation Using Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models: A Comparative Study with Human Raters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.06088/) (2023)
- [Empirical Study of Large Language Models as Automated Essay Scoring Tools in English Composition__Taking TOEFL Independent Writing Task for Example](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.03401/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 19 of 19)

- [LLMs-as-Judges: A Comprehensive Survey on LLM-based Evaluation Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.05579/) (2024)
- [Position: LLMs Can be Good Tutors in English Education](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05467/) (2025)
- [Capabilities of GPT-5 across critical domains: Is it the next breakthrough?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.19259/) (2025)
- [When VLMs 'Fix' Students: Identifying and Penalizing Over-Correction in the Evaluation of Multi-line Handwritten Math OCR](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.22774/) (2026)
- [Automated Assignment Grading with Large Language Models: Insights From a Bioinformatics Course](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.14499/) (2025)
- [AEGIS : Automated Co-Evolutionary Framework for Guarding Prompt Injections Schema](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.00088/) (2025)
- [Evaluating Vision-Language and Large Language Models for Automated Student Assessment in Indonesian Classrooms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.04822/) (2025)
- [Interpreting LLM-as-a-Judge Policies via Verifiable Global Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.08120/) (2025)
- [Generate, Evaluate, Iterate: Synthetic Data for Human-in-the-Loop Refinement of LLM Judges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.04478/) (2025)
- [PRISM: A Personalized, Rapid, and Immersive Skill Mastery framework for personalizing experiential learning through Generative AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.14433/) (2024)
- [Judging It, Washing It: Scoring and Greenwashing Corporate Climate Disclosures using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15094/) (2025)
- [A Case Study Investigating the Role of Generative AI in Quality Evaluations of Epics in Agile Software Development](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.07664/) (2025)
- [From Test-taking to Cognitive Scaffolding: A Pedagogical Diagnostic Benchmark for LLMs on English Standardized Tests](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.17056/) (2025)
- [AdvisingWise: Supporting Academic Advising in Higher Education Settings Through a Human-in-the-Loop Multi-Agent Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.05706/) (2025)
- [Judge Model for Large-scale Multimodality Benchmarks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.06106/) (2026)
- [Your Students Don't Use LLMs Like You Wish They Did](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.23486/) (2026)
- [LLM-as-a-Grader: Practical Insights from Large Language Model for Short-Answer and Report Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.10819/) (2025)
- [Probing Cultural Signals in Large Language Models through Author Profiling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.16749/) (2026)
- [Predicting Disagreement with Human Raters in LLM-as-a-Judge Difficulty Assessment without Using Generation-Time Probability Signals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.12422/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Using large language models (LLMs) for automatic evaluation has become an important evaluation method in NLP research. However, it is unclear whether these LLM-based evaluators can be applied in real-world classrooms to assess student assignments. This empirical report shares how we use GPT-4 as an automatic assignment evaluator in a university course with 1,028 students. Based on student responses, we find that LLM-based assignment evaluators are generally acceptable to students when students have free access to these LLM-based evaluators. However, students also noted that the LLM sometimes fails to adhere to the evaluation instructions. Additionally, we observe that students can easily manipulate the LLM-based evaluator to output specific strings, allowing them to achieve high scores without meeting the assignment rubric. Based on student feedback and our experience, we provide several recommendations for integrating LLM-based evaluators into future classrooms. Our observation also highlights potential directions for improving LLM-based evaluators, including their instruction-following ability and vulnerability to prompt hacking.