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What to expect from an open book exam and how you can prepare for one.
About open book assessments
When prepping for university exams, you might have expected to be getting ready for endless rows of students gathered in a large hall, heads down for three hours, with no noise or notes allowed. Well, open book assessments are quite the opposite!聽
Open book assessments, such as Controlled Condition聽Exams or Take-Home Papers allow you to consult reference materials while you鈥檙e taking the assessment. You will be completing this using your computer or tablet, most likely away from 果冻影院 鈥� in your own space at home or your university accommodation.听
It鈥檚 important to note that you are expected to spend roughly the same amount of time on the open book assessment as you would have spent on the examination if you were present in an exam hall. For your own wellbeing, we do not encourage you to use the whole聽24 hour or 7 day window of a Take-Home Paper to prepare your answers 鈥� longer time spent is also unlikely to lead to significantly improved marks.听
The additional time in some open book assessments (e.g.听a聽24 hour聽window) is there to allow for any technical issues that might arise in downloading the paper or uploading your answers.
What open book assessments test聽
If you are used to exams that test memorisation, you might think that open book assessments are easy or encourage cheating, but don鈥檛 be deceived. They are designed to assess you even when you have access to reference materials and the internet.听
Open book assessments:聽
- focus on higher level learning skills and test your聽understanding聽of a subject matter or its聽application to a real-world problem, rather than recalling聽knowledge;聽
- draw upon a range of intellectual skills to test your understanding of the 鈥渂ig picture鈥� of your module(s) and how the concepts you have learnt work together; and聽
- typically require students to formulate, compare or contrast, analyse, synthesise, apply or evaluate information, rather than simply remember it.听
For example, you might be given a problem or scenario and asked to apply concepts from different parts of the module to develop your answer.听聽
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Revising for open book assessments
Many of the usual tips for preparing for exams will apply, but in an open book assessment, you can make a big mistake by assuming that you can just prepare by having all your reference materials to hand. Your notes, internet sources, textbooks and other reference materials, access to peers by phone, email and on social media can easily become a crutch rather than an asset. Although in some cases, you may have 24 hours or even a week to submit your assessment, please don鈥檛 assume that you鈥檒l have time to review your notes and watch lecture casts, re-read your textbook, or discover new information. You won't.听
Indeed, having access to books and other reference materials may聽actually hinder聽your performance. By preparing well beforehand, you will be able to manage the stress that is natural, and you will feel a sense of achievement of drawing all the knowledge and skills you have learnt together. You should approach the assessment already having studied all key concepts and topics.听
There are some revision steps you can take to make sure that you organise yourself well for open book assessments:聽
- Your notes will make or break your assessment.听If you sit down with a disorderly mass of papers, you鈥檙e going to waste time sorting them and may feel overwhelmed and stressed.听
- Ensure all reference materials are organised聽beforehand so you know where to find the information you need without wasting time and getting frustrated looking for them.听
- Identify key concepts, formulas and terms聽which are likely to appear in the assessment. Use your lecture notes or recordings to help you. You may find it helpful to place post-it notes or online comments with important information in key sections of your printed textbook or pdfs so you can access them quickly.听 For maths and science assessments, produce an outline or list of key data and formulas.听 Create or reuse any mind-maps.听
- Work out what material the assessment is likely to cover.听Are there any specific chapters or key concepts in your textbook? Which lectures might help most? Is the assessment covering more than one module (this is often known as a synoptic or keystone assessment)?聽
- Identify the most effective sources to cite.听聽Compile a list of sources and quotes that support key concepts or arguments. You can format these as part of your preparation in a reference list聽before聽the test so that you don鈥檛 waste precious time organising this and formatting in the correct bibliographic style.听
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Check your understanding of academic聽integrity聽
By submitting an assessment on聽Assessment果冻影院, you are聽agreeing to聽a Declaration of Integrity stating聽that the document you鈥檝e submitted聽is all your own work.听听听
Under open book assessment conditions, there may be a greater temptation to copy and paste from the resources you聽have to聽hand. You should take an academic approach to drawing upon quotes and data to support your answers or argument, but do not rely too heavily on them and always make sure you reference appropriately.听
Click for聽more聽information and guidance on 果冻影院鈥檚 academic integrity regulations聽and check out student聽advice聽on avoiding contract cheating听补苍诲听academic misconduct.听听听
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Practice in advance聽
For centrally managed assessments, you will use an internet-connected computer or tablet to log in to the聽Assessment果冻影院聽system to download the exam paper. You will type your assessment response and have access to your own textbooks, notes, and other resources.听
You can log in to the聽Assessment果冻影院聽platform before the Central Assessment Period begins to practice submitting an assessment. This is your chance to familiarise yourself with the whole process well in advance. See Practice assessment聽for guidance.听
If you鈥檝e been advised to handwrite some of your assessment response (e.g.听where your answers include equations, graphs or diagrams), don鈥檛 forget to practise the process for scanning/photographing handwritten content in advance. Check the quality of these 鈥榤ock鈥� documents is acceptable and seek advice if needed.听聽
Don't forget you can also access electronic copies of聽past exam papers聽from the Library. Note, however, that these papers will have been set for traditional exam conditions, not the open book format.听聽
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Always ask for help if you need聽it聽
The聽Exams and Assessments聽page is your one-stop-shop for all the relevant instructions and guidance.听
For help with your academic writing and referencing, check out this list of聽academic communication support resources at 果冻影院.听听听
If you need to discuss any issues that may be affecting your ability to prepare for your exams, you can contact your personal tutor or聽the 果冻影院聽Student Support and Wellbeing Services聽team of expert staff for confidential advice.听
The Students' Union 果冻影院 also offer an聽聽via email, telephone and video/voice chat on Microsoft Teams.听