How to Ace Your Essay Exams
Essay exams are used to test you on your overall understanding of the course and your ability to create relationships between the major concepts and themes of the course.
While the thought of writing three essays in a three-hour time span might convince you to just throw in your degree and give up altogether, we’re here to help make it easier for you. Check out these tips to help you take that essay exam with confidence!
1. Think About What Questions May Be Asked
If your professor doesn’t give you the questions beforehand, written exams can be absolutely terrifying. The idea that your professor can ask you any question and you won’t have four choices to choose from to jog your memory can send any good student into shock.
However, thinking about what questions your professor could ask can help bring down your anxiety and help with how you prepare for the exam. Look back at your notes and see what topics your professor really focused on or what the main objectives were of the class.
The great part about essay exams is that professors aren’t expecting you to remember the nitty-gritty details of the course. While it is beneficial to remember dates and places, these won’t have as big of a hold on your overall grade as they would in a multiple-choice exam.
2. Understand the Big Ideas of What You’ve Been Learning
When preparing for written exams, it’s good to ask yourself “what’s the point?” or “what’s the big picture?” when studying the content. Many times, essay exams are used to test your overall understanding of the material rather than the specifics.
While it’s important to know the exact time to the second that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, it’s more important that you’re able to explain the importance of the speech and how it was revolutionary to society.
3. Understand the Question
When completing an essay exam, it's incredibly important to understand the question. Unlike multiple-choice exams, essay exams require you to analyze and examine the information rather than just spit out facts. Essay exam questions, especially in social sciences, tend to have multiple parts to them.
Professors try to incorporate mini questions into the overall one to make sure you’re hitting all the important points of the course. Ensure you take the time to read the question thoroughly and break it out to determine what the question is really asking so you don’t lose simple marks by not properly answering the question.
4. Manage Your Time
While memorizing the information is an important part of preparing for your essay exam, it is also important to ensure you can put all your hard work on paper before time runs out. Learning to manage your time is something that can be easily overlooked when you’re not used to writing essay exams.
Especially in an age where we tend to type all our notes and papers, we can easily forget how long it can take us to write papers by hand. Practice writing a mini-essay and time yourself to see approximately how long it takes for you to get all your points across.
In many cases, you’ll have multiple long essay questions that you need to ensure you’re budgeting enough time for. While it is a total pain to practice writing essays for no reason, it will help you in the long run and ensure you’re not scribbling things down seconds before the clock ends your exam.
5. Organize Your Answer
Similar to writing an essay, an essay exam also requires a structured, organized answer. While it’s easy to feel stressed out watching the clock tick down, it’s important to make sure you organize your answers in a clear and concise manner.
In doing so, it will make it easier for your professor or TA to understand the overall picture of what you’re trying to say. Before writing, try organizing your answer after reading the question to ensure you’re hitting all the important points. Although memorizing the information might seem like the most important part of an essay exam, creating a clear, organized and coherent essay is how you’re going to get that B to an A!
Looking to study effectively? This video will help you take great notes online using Google Docs!
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