Essay tests require a slightly different patient of studying from that of objective tests. You will need to be able to recall ideas and organize them into well-written answers instead of merely recognizing them as you do with many objective test items. It's worthwhile to consider some of the things you can do to ready yourself for the essay exam.
Tips on Preparing Yourself for Essay Tests
Know the exact dates of the major exams well in advance so that you can complete all of your assigned reading and basic studying early. Then you can use the week before the exam for review of previous things you have learned rather than reading and learning "new" material.
1. Ask what the exam will be like; try to guess the questions. It's quite permissible to ask your instructor about the test. You may ask general questions like these: How many questions will be on the exam? How much time will be available to answer each question? Will there be any choice or will you be expected to answer all of the questions that are asked? Will there be any short answer essay questions? Will there be any definitions asked for on the test?
Some instructors give a lot of test information in advance. Some will give you sample questions, others will give you 20 or 30 questions and tell you to be prepared to answer any of them come exam time. Some make their old tests available in either their departmental office or in the campus library. Some of these "old" tests are almost the same as the "new" one he will give you, and others are outdated and useless. If the instructor suggests checking some old exams, by all means follow his lead. If he doesn't volunteer any information about old tests, ask him if there are any old "sample exams" available. Ask your instructor what to expect. It's common for an instructor to give information about an upcoming test during your regular discussion quiz sessions. Sometimes they give specific hints about the best way to prepare for the next big test. The weekly small quizzes that your instructor gives you offer good clues as to the type of questions you will probably be asked on the mid-terms and final exams. Study your old quizzes. Be certain that you clearly understand what you did right and what you did wrong on each of them. A similar question may occur on the big test. Ask any upper classmen who have had your class and your instructor what his exams are like. Ask your classmates what their guesses are as to the topics that will be covered on the test. Ask them how they think that the questions will be worded. A small group bull session can sometimes help you to "out-psych the instructor."
Your lecture notes may help you to predict some of his questions. If your prof has given you arguments on both sides of a major issue, review them in detail because you may get an essay exam which asks you to "Discuss the pros and cons of..." or "Compare _____ and _____ in terms of _____.”
Carefully note a series of historical events leading up to a war or the steps in the process of doing a chemical analysis or the steps involved in the "socratic method" in philosophy. If you do, you will be in a good position to answer any essay question which asks you to List, Outline, Enumerate, or Summarize the Steps in these processes. Be certain that you memorize important lists, steps, and sequences of events before the test.
Your careful notes on definitions with clear illustrations of the thing defined will put you in good shape to answer any essay question such as "Define______ and give examples of it." Most of the time, your lecture notes and readings will overlap so that you have to predict only one set of questions that will be asked on both the lectures and the readings. However, in a few classes, the lecture and the reading assignments take totally different directions so that it's impossible to integrate your lecture and reading notes. You are getting two separate courses- one lecture and one readings - and they require double the test preparation. Fortunately, this situation doesn't occur very often. If it does happen to you, get yourself ready by trying to predict what different questions will be asked for the lectures and the readings.
It's somewhat difficult to predict exactly what questions will be asked in a course that is new to you. Usually a conscientious student will be over-prepared with a wide range of predicted questions and answers ready for his first mid-term exam. However, after you have had that first major exam, you will have a better idea of what the instructor is pushing and can pinpoint his special emphasis for the next exam. The process of predicting questions gets easier, and by the time the course is over you will be very good at it.
2. Answer your predicted questions. Set down an outline of an answer for each of the questions that you think that the instructor is most likely to ask. Put the guessed or predicted question on one side of a 5- by 8-inch card. On the other side of the card, put a detailed outline or a composite summary of your answer to the predicted question. After you have completed this detailed outline or summary of your best answer, pick out about ten key words from the outline which will help you to remember the entire outline. Then turn the card over and put these ten words next to the question. Memorize the ten key words and practice using them as a basis for reciting the entire outlined answer. Make a card for every predicted question. You will find that the composite summary mentioned in the note taking chapter is a good basis for the facts and information you will be putting into your answer outline. You will probably have between 12 and 15 outlined answer cards for the average one hour mid-semester exam and about 25 to 30 for the average two-hour final. Remember, this is only an estimated average. Some courses win require fewer guessed essay answers and other courses may require more.
3. Recite and memorize your answers. When you are reciting and memorizing the cards, try this pattern: read your predicted question with your hand covering the ten key words. Then ask yourself, "What are the ten key words which will help me remember the whole outline?" Take a pencil and see if you can write all ten on a blank piece of paper. When you remember them well enough so that you get all ten written down correctly four times in a row, turn the card over and read through your outlined answer with the set to remember it. Then cover your outlined answer and see if you can recite it correctly or write it down correctly. When you have done this about four times in a row, go back to the ten words on the front of the card and be sure that you can remember them and see how they tie in to the outline.
During recitation ask yourself repeatedly, "What is the outlined answer for which these ten words stand?" Practice the recitation of these cards until you can produce the outline answer quickly and accurately. By using this method during the last few review days before the test, you can have 12 to 30 outlined predicted answers thoroughly memorized by test time. Some suggestions for memorizing this much material quickly are included in the chapters on Learning and Memorizing.
It's important to have these predicted answers carefully organized and at your mental fingertips before the exam because you will have only a limited amount of time during the exam and almost no time for reflective thought. If you do your thinking and answer planning carefully enough before the exam, you will find that you will have sufficient time to answer the questions in most essay exams.
The last few days before the exam should be spent in recitation not rereading or reading the material for the first time. It should be a real review period in which you go over your underlined materials, your summary notes from all sources (text, outside reading assignments lab, discussion and lecture) and build your answer outlines from your composite summary of main topics and ideas from all of these sources. Do not try to reread all of your text and outside reading assignments. This is too big a task and it will not help to learn the material. You need to recite and memorize your summary data, not try to rehash the entire course. Keep your review study periods down to about as hour at a time with 10-15 minute exercise or treat break between the hour sessions.
Final Pre-test Preparation
If you have carefully organized your materials, last-minute reviews can be very helpful. Spend the evening before the test giving yourself a summary review session of the high points of your outlines of answers to the questions that you think you might get on the exam. If you have an hour or two free just before the exam, spend that time again reviewing your outlined answers. Last-minute review of your already prepared outlines can be valuable, whereas last-minute studying or reading of brand new material is only confusing. Get a good night's sleep before the exam. Staying up half of the night is the worst thing you can do before an essay exam. You need a clear head to handle the creative writing that you will be doing the next day.
TIPS ON TAKING THE ESSAY TEST
Misreading the test questions can cost you points. Watch for misreading "and" instead of "or." The instructions on the test may say "Answer question number one or two for 50 points." It is easy to hurriedly misread this as: "Answer questions number one and two for 50 points" and be off to a very bad start on the exam.
If you misread instructions you can lose points. If the instructions tell you to "Answer 5 of the following 8 questions" and you skip read this part because you are eager to get started on the questions, you may answer all 8 questions and lose some points in the process.
Another common error is answering only the first part of a two-part question because you didn't notice that there was a second part.
Yet another error is misreading negatives. In the question: "Which scientific tools were not available to the early twentieth century sociologists?" If you don t notice the "not" you will find yourself answering the wrong question.
All of these errors can be avoided by carefully reading and rereading through all of the questions before you begin to answer any of them.
As you read closely, watch the special wording. “Compare" or "Discuss…" does not mean “List…” The term "Summarize . . ." or "Outline...” does not mean the same as "Analyze . . ." or “Interpret...” Watch the wording and do what is asked for. Be on target when you begin your answers.
Begin with the Question You Can Answer Best, and Make an Outline
After you have read the questions carefully, start with the question that you feel you are best prepared to answer even if it is the 2nd or 3rd question in a series of three. Save plenty of blank space for your later answers to the other questions, but start with the one you know best. Quickly scan your memory bank and decide which parts of your prepared answer outlines best fit this question. Sometimes your prepared answer will fit the test question perfectly with no changes being necessary. More often, you win have to make a new brief outline answer for the test question, borrowing parts from two or three of your prepared answer outlines. Now use a couple of inches of the margin space and put down 5 or 10 words which will be your answering summary outline for this test question. If you are well-organized and thinking clearly, you will be able to do all of this in about 3 to 5 minutes. This short, short outline will give you a sequence of topics and subtopics to follow. It gives you a pattern to follow while writing and it will keep you from leaving out some very important idea.
Even while you are writing on this "best" question you may get some good ideas which you can use on the other questions. Whenever this happens, take a moment from your writing and jot down one word on the side which will help you to remember the idea for later when you are writing on the other questions.
Be Flexible in Answering Essay Questions
Use what you do know. It's best to have thought through most of the major ways an essay test may be worded by your instructor. Then, using all of your notes from different sources, build a simple outline for each of the questions that you might get. Memorize these outlines using the memory chapter devices.
However, what happens if the instructor asks you to compare two processes and all you have prepared for is a sample listing of the steps involved in each of the processes? Be flexible. Realign your answer by first writing down a very brief skeleton outline of each of the answers side by side. When that's done, give yourself a couple of minutes to do a quick mental comparison, and then begin writing, comparing the relevant steps in the two processes. Remember that he is asking for a comparison and not a simple listing. Use your flexibility and give him a comparison.
Take another example. Suppose your English instructor gives an essay test asking you to interpret a short poem that is entirely new to you. It has not been mentioned in class or in your readings. Don't go into shock! Use what you already know about the way similar poems have been interpreted in class and in your readings. Build on what you do know.
Another problem requiring flexibility occurs when a question has two parts and you are well prepared on one part but in bad shape to answer the other part. In this situation, spend most of your time and space answering the part you know, but give a brief outline of some of the major points and a little supporting evidence for the part you don't know much about.
For example, your art history quiz asks you to "Review the church and political-military influences on Leonardo da Vinci's art and inventions." You remember the military influences on his inventions very well, but can only think of a few of the high spots relating to his art and the church. Hit the military inventions hard. Make them the major part of your answer. Then, at the end, put down a few of the major church-art items you can recall. You will get much more credit for such an answer than you will if you sit blankly for half an hour trying to dredge up the church-art part of the question.
Similarly, if you are asked to "Discuss the relative merits of the League of Nations and the United Nations," your immediate reaction may be, "My God! I know almost nothing about the League of Nations; I can't answer this one." Not so! Build your answer around the great detail you have about the U.N. In this way you will show that you know something about the question and you may find that you will do pretty well on it.
Another instance where you need to be flexible is if you simply do not have any knowledge on a part of the exam. Suppose you have three essay questions to be answered in two hours. This gives you about 40 minutes per question. However, you draw total blank on the first question. If this happens, give yourself about five minutes to see if you can think of something that you can write which is even indirectly related to the first question. If nothing comes, go directly to the second question and begin working, doing the best you can to forget about the first question. Spend all the remaining time, (almost an hour apiece) going into great detail and really doing a fine job of answering the two questions you do know well. The points you get for excellent answers on the two parts you do know may be enough to make up for the points you lose by not answering the first question. Above all, don't get caught with the negative pattern of sitting and looking at a blank answer sheet for 40 minutes or longer because the first question is an impossible one. If you let that happen, you may give yourself the feeling "I'm lost," and you may waste so much time that you do not have enough time to do well on the two other questions that you do know.
What If You Draw a Total Blank on All Parts of the Essay Exam?
The first thing to do is to see if you are in the right room. Maybe you're taking the wrong test. If you are in the right room but would rather be somewhere else, begin by rereading each of the questions. Try to find even an indirect tie-in with some of the ideas in your notes. If you are in doubt as to the meaning of parts of the questions raise your hand and ask the person in charge. If he is no help, tackle the question by starting with, "I am not certain how to interpret the question. In giving my answer I am going to assume that this is what is being asked for . . ." and then jot down your interpretation and your answers. If details of the major battles of a war are asked for and you simply didn't study that material well enough, put something down that is indirectly or very remotely related such as: "I don't recall the major battles but some of the participating generals had fascinating backgrounds which influenced their major decisions during the war." Then tell what you know about the generals. In this way, you may pick up a few points. You have nothing to lose because there is no correction for guessing on essay examinations.
Pace Yourself to Better Essay Test Grades
Pacing involves using your time carefully so that you spend enough, but not too much, time on each question in a set of essay questions. Good pacing also involves using all of the time allotted to you.
Check the number of points given for each part of the exam. Early in any essay test you have to decide how much time you are going to spend on each question. A common mistake students make is to spend an equal amount of time on a low point and a high point question. For example, suppose you have two hours to work on three essay questions. The first question is worth 50 points and the other two are worth 25 points each. It's easy to make the mistake of giving all three equal time, i.e., 40 minutes apiece. You should be spending a full hour on the 50 pointer and only 30 minutes each on the 25 pointers. If you have any doubt about the relative point value of each of the questions, ask the instructor if they are of equal or differing value in terms of the time you should spend on each. This question can be asked just as the test begins or shortly after it begins.
Use your watch. To pace yourself more accurately be sure that you have your wrist watch with you the day of the test. Some instructors will post the remaining test time that you have on the board during the quiz, but not all of them do so. By watching your timing you will be able to pace yourself more accurately, not spending too much time on any one problem.
Don't Distract the Exam Reader
Write carefully so that your writing is legible, If the instructor is having a terrible time reading what you have written, he is going to be distracted from the content of your paper. If you know that your handwriting is pretty poor at best, deliberately slow down your writing pace during the exam. Illegible hieroglyphics can cost you points on an essay exam.
Poor spelling and grammar are other distracters. Improving your grammar is a slow process. Listening carefully to the English usage of learned people such as your instructors can give you models for improvement in grammar. However, all you need to improve your spelling a dictionary and a bunch of flash cards. If spelling is a problem with you, start memorizing and give yourself occasional spelling quizzes. A conscious effort to improve can give good results.
Another distracter is misuse of the special vocabulary of that course. Nothing makes an expert more displeased to see terms of his favorite subject misused and obviously misunderstood. By all means use the special vocabulary words of the course if you feel that you understand them pretty well. At first, use these words much as you have seen your instructor and the text use them. However, if you are much in doubt about the meaning or correct usage of some of the words, skip them and put the idea in your own simple but non-distracting words.
Wrapping Up the Exam
If you have been using loose sheets, check that your name is on all of them. If you are turning in 4 pages which you have written on both sides, go back to the first page and at the top write first of 4 pages (8 sides). Then number each of the sides of the pages you have written (1-8).
If you are using blue books and have used more than one, go to the last page in the first blue book and write "continued in 2nd blue book." Then go back to the front of the first blue book and write on the cover "first of 2 blue books." Make sure that your name is on the outside cover of both of them.
If possible, give yourself a few minutes at the end of the exam to quickly reread what you have written and correct any obvious errors in spelling, grammar, or legibility as you go along. When you are writing rapidly, it's very easy to make these errors. It takes only a couple of minutes at the end of the exam to make these corrections. They may save you points.
Overall, planning and preparation for essay tests is the key to doing well. Asking questions beforehand, predicting the questions and practicing writing the answers will give you more confidence at test-time. Carefully reading and pacing yourself while taking the test will give you a further advantage. Being prepared for an essay test is the best way to get a good grade on it.
