Finding out that your next assessment will be an open book exam must sound like music to a student’s ears. After all, every piece of information you could possibly need will be right in front of you. Easy huh? Well not exactly….
Your teachers will know that you will have all of your study materials in front of you. So the questions are likely to be designed in a way that tests your understanding of the material instead of simply asking you to recall some facts and figures.
So how exactly do you study for an open book exam? We’ve written this guide that will help you effectively prepare for an open book exam. Plus we’ve thrown in some extra exam tips at the end of this post.
Find out exactly what you are allowed to bring
Just because it says open book exam does not mean you can bring anything. You may be allowed to take your entire textbook as well as all of your notes. At other times you may be restricted to a couple of pages of notes. Knowing what you are allowed to bring in advance will help you plan accordingly.
Remember you may not have the time to spend ages reading through your textbook
Even though it’s open book, time is still of the essence. Trust me, you won’t have time to search through your notes trying to come up with an answer. You should still know the key pieces of information, important statistics, relevant quotes etc.
This is why even though it’s open book you should still study hard.
Organise your material in advance
If your lecturer/teacher is nice enough to allow you to bring an entire textbook don’t just turn up with the book, open it in front of you and expect it to help you find all of the answers. Your textbook should be highlighted to identify key definitions or information so you can find them easily.
It’s also a good idea to mark relevant pages that you think might be useful i.e those with important quotes, statistics, summaries or perhaps the chapter conclusion (which usually offers a nice neat summary of the important stuff). You might want to consider adding some sticky notes with the main points of each section. This will save you from having to read large chunks of text searching for key information.
If you are taking notes with you be sure to organise these as well. Make sure you have clear headings on each page so you know what is what or perhaps even colour coordinate them.
Some people find it useful to create separate notes for key dates, quotes, statistics or graphs. Another idea is to have a couple of pages dedicated to each topic you have covered.
Other tips for open book exams
Don’t just copy directly out of the textbook. As well as being a waste of time it is also plagiarism thus will gain you little if any marks.
Don’t spend ages searching for one answer. If you are stuck, leave it blank and move on. No point wasting time reading chapter after chapter searching for the answer. Better to focus on the questions that you are familiar with thus will stand a better chance of getting some marks. Remember, you can always come back to it at the end.
Our Top Exam Tips
- Make sure you take everything you need i.e pens (don’t forget the spares), calculator, bottle of water etc
- Get a good night sleep the night before
- Read the questions more than once to ensure you fully understand what is being asked
- Manage your time effectively. Allocate enough time to each question.
- Try to allow yourself some time at the end to check over your answers
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