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Essay Tests
Preparing for Essay Tests:
- Long - term preparation
- Read the course description and syllabus. Write down the course
goals and topics and any repeated themes. Write down any assumptions
and biases that may be either stated or implied. As you read
assignments and listen to lectures and discussions, ask yourself how
the ideas presented relate to these themes.
- Learn as much as you can about the content and grading criteria of
upcoming tests from your professor. For example, how important is
style and grammar?
- Short - term preparation
- A week or two before the test, look over your notes and the
chapter headings of your readings, and from this generate a list of
major topics for the material covered. Note any
relationships among the topics - these are often good material for
essay questions. In a history course, for example, you might find that
two political movements are similar. Your instructor could easily ask
you to compare and contrast these movements on an essay test. It
sometimes helps to picture such relationships by creating a
chart of the related elements as in this example:
| General Issues: |
Cause:
Problems of Industrialization |
Effect:
Progressive Response |
| Social |
Urbanization
Change in family |
Muckraking - Spargo
Settlement House |
| Political |
Growth of Bossism
Tweed |
Muckraking - Baker
LaFollette reform |
| Economic |
Trusts
Standard Oil |
Muckraking - Tarbell
Anti-Trust
legislation |
- For each major topic, create a summary sheet of
all the relevant factual data that relates to that topic. Review
actively: integrate notes, text, and supplementary information into
diagrams, charts, outlines, tables, or simply written paragraph
summaries of the information. Use your own words: make these summary
sheets personally meaningful. Show them to your professor to make sure
you're on the right track.
- Use these relationship charts and summary sheets to generate a
list of possible essay questions.
Outline answers to as many of these questions as time
permits.
Taking Essay Tests:
- Before you write -
- Budget your time according to the point value of
each question, allowing time for proofreading and any unexpected
emergencies (such as taking longer than you expected on a question or
going blank for a while).
- Read all essay questions before
you start to write. As you read the questions, underline key
words (e.g., compare, explain, justify, define and make sure
you understand what you are being asked. See UTLC handout "Key Words
in Essay Questions" for further clarification of the meaning of these
words).
- Begin with the question that seems easiest to
you. This procedure reduces anxiety and facilitates clear
thinking.
- Simplify the relationship implied by the
question. For example, if you were given the question, The Progressive
Movement was a direct response to the problems of industrialization.
Discuss.", you might narrow your response to a more specific cause-
effect relationship such as, "What were the problems of
industrialization that caused a response that we label the Progressive
Movement?" This focuses your attention on causes as a basis for recall
and discussion..
- Before actually writing, jot a rough outline on your test
answer sheet: list quickly, as they come to you, as many
ideas and facts as you can remember by recalling your relationship
charts and summary sheets. Number your points in the order in which
you want to present them, discriminating main issues and supporting
details and examples.
- As you are writing on one question, if you think of ideas and
examples that you can apply to other questions, jot them down on the
test answer sheet so you won't forget them.
- While you write -
- Come up with a definite, clear sentence that directly answers the
question. State your thesis within the first few
sentences of your answer.
- Leave space for additions to your answer by writing on every other
line and on only one side of each page.
- Follow your outline: provide specific examples,
substantiating facts, and relevant details.
- Use the technical vocabulary of the course.
- Write legibly.
- When you reach the end of your allotted time period for a given
question, move on to the next item; partially
answering all questions is better than fully answering some but not
others. The instructor can't give you any credit for a question you
haven't attempted.
- If you find yourself out of time on a question but with more to
say, quickly write on your test answer sheet an outline of what you
would write if you had time; perhaps your grader will give you partial
credit for it.
- If you don't know much about a question, relax and brainstorm for
a few moments about the topic. Recall pages from your texts,
particular lectures, class discussions to trigger your memory about
ideas relevant to the question. Write these ideas down as coherently
as you can.
- If your mind goes blank, relax: take some slow deep breaths and,
just for a moment, think about something pleasant that's unrelated to
the test. Then, let your mind recall through association or redirect
your attention to a different question.
- After you write -
- Re-read your answers and make any additions that
are necessary for clarity and completeness.
- Check your response for errors in grammar,
spelling, and punctuation.
Analyzing Returned Essay Tests:
- Read all comments and suggestions. Be sure you
understand the grader's criticisms. Write out questions you have so that
you can discuss them with your grader. Be tactful and assertive; you
need to understand your grader's expectations!
- Determine where your weaknesses lie:
- Evaluate your understanding - Did most of the information your
instructor expected in your essay come from the lectures? From the
texts? From outside readings? Was there any course content tested
which you did not anticipate? Did your grader want more detailed
information than you had expected? Did most of the questions come
straight from the material covered, or did the instructor expect you
to be able to analyze and/or evaluate the information? Do you realize
now that you have significantly misunderstood some of the important
ideas in the course?
- Evaluate your test-taking procedure - Did you wait too long to
begin to prepare for the test? Did you only memorize when the test
required that you analyze or synthesize ideas? Did you misread or
misunderstand any of the questions? Did you run out of time? Did you
fail to write down anything on a question you knew little about? Did
you fail to organize your ideas before you began to write? Fail to
proofread?
- Evaluate your anxiety level. - Did you have any problems with
anxiety or blocking during the test? Were you too anxious to
concentrate on the questions and your responses? Did you forget ideas
and information which you studied well?
- Reorganize your study approach on the basis of your
evaluation of your weaknesses. Ask yourself what you would have had to
do--how you would have had to prepare, to think, to behave, to feel - to
do well on this test. Then develop a study plan which incorporates these
insights.
- Get help if you need it. Arrange to talk to your
instructor, hire a tutor, join a study group, visit the writing tutors
at the UTLC--whatever seems most useful to you.
Portions of this handout have been adapted from materials developed by
Nancy Wood, University of Texas at El Paso, and David Hubin and Lsan
Lesyk, University of Oregon
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