"I'm like a nervous parent when your kid is having a concert," said biology professor Amy Vollmer. If her students don't perform well, she said, "I would feel I have failed."
The feedback from examiners has led professors to alter their courses.
English professor Phil Weinstein recalled a serious sit-down among the faculty in 1977 after several students did not receive honors. Examiners said students were short on knowledge of the progression of history in English literature and critical theory.
The next year, the department began teaching both.
Students, fresh from the exam room this year, say the process was affirming.
"Now I know I can walk up to any scholar of fascism and have a conversation," said Lauren Stokes, 21, a history major from Mountain Lakes, N.J., who got highest honors.
It was especially thrilling for students who were examined by academics whose work they have read as part of their honors seminar classes.
"The person who examined me on my thesis wrote the most important book for my thesis," said Sarah Ifft, 22, a medieval-studies major from Silver Spring, Md., referring to Villanova professor Rebecca Winer.
Ifft received highest honors.
Students, who must have at least a B-plus average to be in honors, prepare for exam day by working in teams, with professors acting more like coaches or senior teammates throughout the two-year program.
Swarthmore professors do not sit in on the oral exams or share any information about the students with the examiners in advance. The examiners' marks are final.
Big names in academia including Princeton president Shirley M. Tilghman, a developmental-biology specialist, have been past examiners.
This year, examiners came from 27 states, Canada, and Switzerland, with representation from all eight Ivy League schools, as well as other prominent colleges including Stanford, MIT, and the University of Chicago.
Local universities such as Drexel, Temple, the University of the Arts, and Rutgers also were represented.
Examiners earn $500 to $1,500, plus expenses. Exam week costs Swarthmore several hundred thousand dollars.
Cost is one reason the program probably has not been duplicated, examiners said.
Another is that giving so much power to outside academics might not go over well among some faculties. Oberlin College, for example, uses outside examiners on a smaller scale, but Oberlin professors sit in on the exams.
"It would be very scary for me to teach a course and then have someone who has never been part of my teaching experience come in and administer an exam on my students," said examiner John Scofield, a physics and astronomy professor at Oberlin.
Swarthmore faculty, however, say that bringing in a wide array of academics is very good public relations. A number of examiners then send their children to Swarthmore.
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