49 Preparing for and Taking an Essay Exam
Reminder: Essay exams allow professors to assess your ability to synthesize ideas, construct arguments, and prove points in a short amount of time and in just a few lines. Your answers should demonstrate your ability to connect concepts and convey your understanding of a topic. Unlike multiple-choice tests that usually focus on memorization, essay exams require you to step beyond the words of the text and explore the implications of factual information, using briefness and precision.
Tips for Preparing for an Essay Exam
- Begin to study several days before the day of the exam. Be aware that you will need enough time to review all the materials. Do not procrastinate until the day before the exam.
- Know the content to be tested, but also establish connections. Your instructors will not look for a collection of unrelated pieces of information. Rather, they want to see that you understand the whole picture. As you review different topics, ask yourself: How do these facts are connected to one another? What are some concrete examples that help me understand these ideas? Don‘t merely memorize material.
- Prepare practice questions. For example, if you have studied the role of Germany in both World War I and II, you can anticipate a question that will ask you to compare and contrast these topics. To elaborate practice questions, pay attention to hints that your professor has given in study guides and lectures. What topics, concepts, or theories has the professor said that you need to know? Then, outline how you would answer the practice questions.
Tips While Taking an Essay Exam
Before you start to write, please do the following:
- Preview the entire test, from the first to the last page. Notice the different parts
- Check the scores for each question. Usually, the number of points reflects the level of detail that your instructor expects.
- If you find anything confusing or unclear, ask your instructor immediately.
While writing your answers, do the following:
- Manage your time efficiently during exams. Allocate time for planning, writing, and revising. Reserve a few minutes at the end to complete unfinished answers. Avoid spending too much time on individual questions. Instead, monitor your time and move on after a few minutes. Remember that incomplete answers often receive more credit than leaving questions entirely unanswered.
- Carefully read the question and address what is specifically asked. This common mistake often leads to low scores, aside from simply lacking knowledge of the material. For example, If the question pertains to causes, avoid discussing effects. When asked to explain, don’t merely provide examples. Similarly, if the question focuses on the atmosphere, refrain from discussing rivers and lakes. Pay close attention to verbs such as analyze, compare, prove, illustrate, or apply, and understand their context. Often, the wording of the question provides clues on how to respond.
- Before addressing each question, take a moment to organize your response. Identify key points and make notes in the margin or on a separate sheet of paper. Avoid the mistake of diving into an answer without considering its structure. Even if some facts are relevant, presenting them randomly may give the impression that you lack a true understanding of the material.
- Write clearly. Ensure your response is comprehensible to your instructor. Use complete sentences arranged logically. Maintain legible handwriting; if it’s unreadable, you won’t receive credit. When using diagrams, provide clear explanations and labels
After finishing the exam:
- Review your exam and make any corrections. Unless instructed otherwise, use a pencil to write your exam, so then erasing handwriting will be easy. If you need to make corrections on inked writing, use whiteout. Avoid assuming that crossed-out sentences with arrows pointing to margin notes are easily decipherable by your instructor. In fact, they may not. Your exam will be visually unattractive, which may affect your score. Therefore, it is important to plan your answers before beginning to write.
The content on this PB page has been paraphrased from the websites below. Ideas have been blended to configure this information. For specific details, and to learn more about these topics, visit:
