Open-book assessments — a student perspective
Tips and advice from current students to help you approach your open-book exams with confidence
Contents
Introduction
This post is part of a collection of resources to support open-book assessments. It provides tips and advice from current students to help you approach your open-book exams with confidence — see the further support section further down for our other resources.
About open-book assessments
In open-book assessments, you can refer to your resources during the test. These resources could be textbooks, index cards, printed notes, handwritten notes, or any other approved material. In this post, the Library Student Team wanted to give you some tips to help you perform exceptionally well in these assessments!
We talked to our colleagues Raghav and Naman, who have done multiple open-book assessments, as the focus of their course is problem-solving. We also spoke to Nandana for some study tips. They’ve given us some great advice to help you get through your open-book assessments.
Keep reading to learn about the best ways to prepare!
Prepare and know what to expect
The advantage of open-book exams is that they require less memorisation and more concept understanding, which encourages deeper learning, and helps you learn the material overall. Still, open-book assessments have some challenges. Firstly, the questions tend to be open-ended, so your task is to relate your knowledge and resources to the problem at hand. Also, you need to know how your topics are organised so you can reference them easily during the assessment, which requires a fair amount of preparation.
Naman had a bad experience with an open-book exam because he didn’t know how to prepare. He read a little bit about the topics and tried to focus on the applications rather than familiarising himself with the content. The assessment was an hour-long with 43 questions, and Naman felt he missed most of the items because he wasn’t as efficient as he could’ve been in his searching. Reflecting on the experience, he knew that he would need to prepare better for the next exam.
Do your research
This research includes knowing when the assessment is and what topics are covered. Aside from these obvious things, you should have a quiet area where you know you will be able to focus on your assessment. These are small things, but they help you understand the context and help you prepare mentally.
Revisit and organise your notes
Get your resources ready! You should know how to find content without wasting time. To do this, you should know what resources you will use, how they are organised, and the best way to search through them. This will save you valuable time. If you’re not sure whether you’ve got all your materials, our strategy ‘Do you have what you need?’ can help you gather your thoughts and resources.
Our colleague Nandana suggests preparing your notes in a Word or Google document, organised by keywords and concepts. Setting up headings and contents to let you find a topic quickly might help too. During the exam, you can use the hyperlinked contents and ‘CTRL’+‘F’ to search within your notes quickly.
We’ve created a handy ‘Indexed notes template’ in Word and Google Docs that you might like to use, as well as an ‘Indexed notes example’ also in Word and Google Docs.
For his next open-book test, Naman prepared his resources in advance by making a Google Doc with links to resources and notes on key pages and content. This helped him go through his exam quicker, so he could focus more time on the harder questions — this strategy earned him a first-class mark. His tip is to thoroughly research the subject and keep a list of resources with comments.
Use your usual revision strategies
Your professors know that you have resources with you, so it is unlikely the questions are going to be directly from the textbook. As Raghav and Naman have said, the focus of open-book exams is usually the application of knowledge, rather than memorisation and retrieval of the necessary information. To prepare adequately for this, you need to have a grasp of what your strengths and weaknesses are for that subject. The best way to do this is to study like you would for a closed book exam.
Remember that this test is likely to be timed, so you won’t have all the time in the world to look at your resources. Some of the exams might have strict timing meaning you won’t have time to look at your notes. So, revise before your assessment.
Check out the revision timetable resources we’ve made to help you stay on track! We’ve got a ‘Monthly revision plan’ template [Word] and example, plus a ‘Weekly revision plan’ template and example.
During the exam, focus on the question at hand and what it requires you to apply. Depending on what the problem is asking, you can refer to your notes or answer it from memory. It is much faster to respond to it from memory if you are very familiar with the topic. This will save you time to go over your answers later and focus on the harder questions.
Naman recommends skipping any questions that require complex solving and attempting the more straightforward questions first. This helps you answer most of the problems in time so you can focus on the harder questions in the end. This strategy also makes you sure you get the easy marks.
Condense your notes and create flashcards on key concepts
Textbooks tend to be big, so it’s unlikely you know the book inside out. Raghav recommends you have your notes, in whatever form they may be. This could include index cards, printed notes you wrote, or handwritten notes from readings. Going over what you’ve noted down can quickly remind you of concepts you’ve learned and the connections you’ve made. This is a great thing to have in an open-book exam where the time is often limited, and the stakes are sizeable.
Consider installing a blocker to stop getting distracted
We know how difficult it is to stay focused when working as the temptation to go on Youtube or social media can be very strong. Consider installing a blocker on your device so you will not be able to go onto these websites. Raghav has been using a blocker, and it has helped him to remain focused on his work. This will help you not only in your exams but also when writing your coursework assignments as well.
We hope these tips will be useful to you so you can excel in your exam. Good luck!
Further support
- Our podcast, Top tips for open book exams, with transcript, has a range of tips you can listen to to help you feel prepared.
- This Open-book exams post from My Learning Essentials provides an overview of how they differ from other kinds of assessments, and how to prepare.
- Search the Library website, which gathers together lots of resources you might find useful, including tailored support and revision podcasts.
- Finally, as always, check out the My Learning Essentials online resources for support with a range of academic skills.
By Simone, Loujane, Raghav, Naman, and Nandana from the Student Team
