A Practical Guide to Exam Taking Strategies
By Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel
Taking exams is often associated with discomfort and anxiety in students. Students will feel nervous as these are high-stake performance situations. Exams require students to commit information to memory and to obtain an in-depth understanding of taught concepts. Thus, exams support knowledge construction, and knowledge is one key feature that sets experts apart from novices. Being able to explain concepts in your own words from memory increases students’ confidence in their knowledge and skills which facilitates applying all of this in the future. Since exams are often an element in education and because I have suffered from test anxiety my entire life, I have dedicated considerable time to put together exam support resources for my students. In today’s blog post, I will share exam taking tips and hope this is useful not only for students, but also for teachers. I’m also sharing my PowerPoint slides that you are welcome to use as long as you credit me. So, here we go.
I’d like to think about exams not as one task, but rather a collection of several subtasks. Breaking down the exam into subtasks helps coping with it better and can make it more manageable. Every exam comes with a warm-up phase, a writing phase, and a final phase.
Warm-Up Phase
Know where and when the exam will take place. If you have never been to the building or room before, make sure to visit it in the days before the exam. This will help you to know how to get there. If you can get access to the room, go inside and walk around to familiarize yourself with the location.
On the day of the exam, arrive on time and plan for buffers related to public transport or traffic. It is better to arrive too early than too late. Before entering the exam hall, engage with activities that relax you. This will be different for different people. You may want to chat with others, or you may prefer to be on your own and listen to your music.
When you are in the exam hall, find your desk space and familiarize yourself with the paperwork. There are usually instructions for you to read (and maybe fill out) and you may want to set up your space with the items you are allowed to bring to the exam. Read all instructions given to you carefully and if you have any questions, ask the invigilator.
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Writing Phase
Read the questions
When the exam starts, carefully read the questions. Think about what the focus of the question is and if there are any terms you need to define or distinguish between first. Pay attention to the depth of the question. Some questions are shallower and ask for definitions, but others will require you to evaluate or compare/contrast. Certain keywords in the question will give away the expected depth. Verbs like ‘Discuss’, ‘Evaluate’, ‘Explain’ usually afford more depth and elaboration than ‘Define’ or ‘List’.
Plan your answers
For essay answers, make a short outline of your answer. This will be your ‘plan of attack’. Note down how you plan to start your answer, how many paragraphs you will be writing, and what each paragraph will be about. Note down key points for each paragraph and compare this outline with what the question asks you to do.
Answer the question (essay)
This should go without saying, but every year we see answers that are well written, but that do not actually answer the question asked. So, keep your answer focused and relevant to what the question asks. Stay on topic and do not divert to concepts that are irrelevant to the question. Think about the most logical order for your arguments in your answer to increase the flow of it. When raising arguments or making points, try to do this in an evidence-based way by connecting this to concepts, theories, and findings that were discussed in class. To gauge if your answer is an answer to the question, I recommend using the ‘Guess-The-Question’ exercise. Imagine someone read your answer without knowing the question, would they be able to guess the question?
Answer the question (MCQ)
When you read a multiple-choice question (MCQ), try to come up with the answer before looking at the alternatives. This can make it easier to spot the correct answer among the incorrect alternatives. One approach is to answer the questions you feel most confident with first and then tackle the more challenging ones. For the more difficult ones, try these steps:
Eliminate answer alternatives that are least likely to be correct.
For the remaining alternatives do the True/False test: For each alternative try to decide if the alternative by itself is likely to be true or false. Then choose the true alternative that aligns best with the question.
If you still cannot infer the answer, take a guess, but only do this if you don’t receive penalty points for wrong responses. So, check your exam rules first. Guessing is only an option if it doesn’t come with negative consequences. If you don’t get points deducted for wrong MCQ answers, definitely guess and don’t leave any questions unanswered.
Plan your time
Most exams will have to be completed within a set time. So, keep an eye on the clock and plan for buffers throughout. Your total exam time is a combination of reading, planning, answering, and final checks, but I would also always add a buffer in there in case you get stuck (see tips below) or just for some time to pause and think. Here is a rough plan for an 1-hour essay exam answer for a scenario in which you are given several essay questions and you pick one to answer: 3 minutes to read all questions and select which question to answer, 5 minutes to make an outline and plan your answer, 40 minutes exam answer writing, 8 minutes for final checks and tweaks, and 4 minutes buffer. This is just an example, and you can tweak this accordingly.
If you get stuck
This can happen and if it does try to follow the following steps.
If you are well enough to attempt recall from memory: Sit back, breathe, close your eyes, and try to remember. Shutting out any distractions by closing your eyes can be helpful in remembering things you have learned (1). Try to recall your notes on the topic or the materials you have read. You can also try to put yourself back in your study space to cue your memory.
If you feel too overwhelmed to attempt memory recall, do this box breathing exercise first:
a. Sit back and close your eyes.
b. Breathe in for 4 counts through your nose.
c. Hold your breath for 4 counts.
d. Breathe out for 6 counts through your mouth.
e. Repeat 2-3 times.
Afterwards, try step 1.
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Final Phase
Last check and submit
When you have completed your exam, do a last read-over of your answers. Then, step away from your answers and turn over/submit the exam paper.
Accept completion and find your people
I have two final tips for students once the exam is over. I tend to tell them that these are probably the most important ones for one’s own wellbeing after the exam. First of all, when the exam is done, it is done. Accept completion of this achievement it is out of your hands. You have given it what you could and so, reward yourself for completing the exam. Secondly, find your people after the exam. From my own experience when I was a student, there are at least two distinct types of people after any exam: Students who really want to talk about the exam, answers, etc. and students who want never to speak of the exam again (or at least not right after the exam) and who prefer chatter to distract them from the exam. So, make sure to respect each other’s preferences because if someone does not want to talk about the exam (and that was me as a student) the worst thing that can happen is to overhear potential answers and exam chatter. Back when I studied, we did not have group chats and so I could just take myself out of such situations. However, nowadays with the popularity of group chats, students may be exposed to information involuntarily. So, my tip is to set up a separate group chat for people who want to chat about the exam afterwards.
I wish all students all the best for their exams. Take it one step at a time. For teachers (and also students), here are my tips as a PowerPoint presentation for you to use.
(cover image by Louis Bauer on Pexels)
Reference
(1) Vredeveldt, A., Hitch, G.J., & Baddeley, A.D. (2011). Eyeclosure helps memory by reducing cognitive load and enhancing visualisation. Memory & Cognition, 39, 1253-1263. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-011-0098-8
