48 Two Types of Essay Exam Questions
Short-answer essay exam questions may be asked differently. Let’s review how you should understand these questions and what your instructors will expect to read in your answers.
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Verb-focused Essay Exam Questions.
In these types of questions, the center of gravity is located in the verb, which signals a specific expectation in your answer. Different verbs have different meanings, so knowing the meaning of each verb is the first step to answering the question as expected, besides adding accuracy and precision to the content.
Common Verbs Used in Essay Exam Questions and Their Meanings
- Compare – Examine qualities or characteristics to determine resemblances. What are the similarities among these ideas?
- Contrast – Examine differences among related ideas. What are the differences between these ideas?
- Define – Write concise, clear, authoritative meanings, keeping in mind the class to which the item belongs, and anything that differentiates it from all other classes.
- Describe – Depict an overall picture of an idea with all its components. What are the important characteristics or features of this idea?
- Discuss – Involves a comprehensive answer. Examine, analyze carefully, and present considerations pro and con regarding the problems or items.
- Enumerate – Provide a list or outline to recount, one by one, the points required concisely.
- Evaluate – Present a careful appraisal, stressing both advantages and limitations.
- Explain – To make a topic clear and understandable to a reader.
- Identify – To establish the particular conditions that make something unique. For example: What is this idea? What is its name?
- Illustrate – Present a figure, diagram, or concrete example as a means of clarification.
- Interpret – Translate, exemplify, or comment upon an idea, and usually, give your judgment or reaction. For example: What does this idea mean? Why is it important?
- Justify – Prove your thesis or show grounds for your decision. Why is this correct? Why is this true? or Why is this not true or incorrect?
- List – Similar to “enumerate”. Present an itemized series or tabulation.
- Outline – Give main points and essential supplementary materials systematically. What are the main points and essential details?
- Prove – Establish something with certainty by citing evidence or by reasoning logically.
- Review – Analyze and comment briefly on the major points in an organized sequence.
- State – Express the high points briefly and clearly.
- Summarize – Give in condensed form the main points or facts. Briefly, what are the important ideas?
- Trace – Give a description of progress, sequence or development from the point of origin. What is the sequence of ideas or order of events?
2. Essay Exam Questions for Higher-Order Thinking.
Some essay exam questions may ask you to think critically about the exam content. Higher-order thinking means reflecting upon the exam content and “doing something” with those ideas beyond recalling and explaining. Higher-order thinking may also involve creating your own new ideas based on the knowledge that is being tested.
These types of questions are pretty challenging because they ask you to think about knowledge and apply it to new situations. Professors may prefer to ask higher-order thinking questions to check your real understanding of the course material, so you need to be prepared.
To tackle these questions successfully, it is important to:
- study the exam content using the strategies that you reviewed earlier in this Pressbook.
- understand the types of higher-order thinking processes that essay exam questions may require you to demonstrate. See below:
Types of Higher-Order Thinking Processes and Examples
Comprehension – An essay exam question may ask you to comprehend information by using an example that makes sense to the professor.
Examples:
- How would you put __ into your own words?
- What would be an example of __?
Application – An essay exam question may ask you to apply abstract or theoretical principles to concrete, practical situations.
Examples:
- How can you make use of __?
- How could __ be put into practice?
Analysis – An essay exam question may ask you to break down or dissect information.
Examples:
- What are the most important/significant ideas or elements of __?
- What assumptions/biases underlie or are hidden within __?
Synthesis – An essay exam question may ask you to build up or connect separate pieces of information to form a larger, more coherent pattern.
Example:
- How can these different ideas be grouped together into a more general category?
Evaluation – An essay exam question may ask you to critically judge the validity or aesthetic value of ideas, data, or products.
Examples:
- How would you judge the accuracy or validity of __?
- How would you evaluate the ethical (moral) implications or consequences of __?
Deduction – An essay exam question may ask you to draw conclusions about particular instances that are logically consistent.
Examples:
- What specific conclusions can be drawn from this general __?
- What particular actions would be consistent with this general __?
Causal reasoning – An essay exam question may ask you to identify cause-effect relationships between different ideas or actions.
Examples:
- How would you explain why __ occurred?
- How would __ affect or influence __?
Creative thinking – An essay exam question may ask you to generate imaginative ideas or novel approaches to traditional practices.
Examples:
- What might be a metaphor or analogy for __?
- What might happen if __? (hypothetical reasoning)
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