Evaluating ChatGPT-4 Vision on Brazil’s National Undergraduate Computer Science Exam

The recent integration of visual capabilities into Large Language Models (LLMs) has the potential to play a pivotal role in science and technology education, where visual elements such as diagrams, charts, and tables are commonly used to improve the learning experience. This study investigates the performance of ChatGPT-4 Vision, OpenAI’s most advanced visual model at the time the study was conducted, on the Bachelor in Computer Science section of Brazil’s 2021 National Undergraduate Exam (ENADE). By presenting the model with the exam’s open and multiple-choice questions in their original image format and allowing for reassessment in response to differing answer keys, we were able to evaluate the model’s reasoning and self-reflecting capabilities in a large-scale academic assessment involving textual and visual content. ChatGPT-4 Vision significantly outperformed the average exam participant, positioning itself within the top 10 best score percentile. While it excelled in questions that incorporated visual elements, it also encountered challenges with question interpretation, logical reasoning, and visual acuity. A positive correlation between the model’s performance in multiple-choice questions and the performance distribution of the human participants suggests multimodal LLMs can provide a useful tool for question testing and refinement. However, the involvement of an independent expert panel to review cases of disagreement between the model and the answer key revealed some poorly constructed questions containing vague or ambiguous statements, calling attention to the critical need for improved question design in future exams. Our findings suggest that while ChatGPT-4 Vision shows promise in multimodal academic evaluations, human oversight remains crucial for verifying the model’s accuracy and ensuring the fairness of high-stakes educational exams. The paper’s research materials are publicly available at https://github.com/nabormendonca/gpt-4v-enade-cs-2021.