5 Strategies to Help Prepare for Essay Exams

With the holidays, comes the exam seasons. Students everywhere are cracking their textbooks in preparation for their exams. Finals vary from course to course and professor to professor. Students are often most familiar with multiple choice format exams. The answer is right before your very eyes and it’s simply up to you to select the correct response. Essay exams are entirely different. The very mention of an essay or even short answer final can send chills down the spines of students. On these exams, the answers are NO WHERE to be seen on the exam. Question prompts can be brief, vague, and even confusing. Consider these five strategies to ensure you succeed on your essay exams this finals season:

1. Write on demand: The best way to perform a skill well in the classroom or at the time of the distance-learning exam is to practice it beforehand. Make up a few sample questions and write on demand (without looking at notes) for a set period of time.

2. Learn a few key answers: It may be too late to realistically learn all of your material. Focus on a few parts and study those with more detail. This focus translates to higher grades on essay questions. If you can provide greater detail to some parts of the question, shortcomings are often overlooked.

3. Ask for clarification….even if you don’t really need it: Asking the professor to explain the question in a different way takes courage, but it can pay off in points! When he or she clarifies the question, there is a good chance additional clues or information will be included. Wordings used in their clarification are totally fair game for your response.

4. Something is better than nothing: Even if you have absolutely no idea how to respond, give your very best attempt. A blank response to an essay sends the message that you didn’t try.

5. Summarize your points: Just as you would do in a term paper, conclude your response with a summary. Your final words will be the most memorable for professors as they grade.

Remember, professors are also often cramming around this time of year to conclude the course and enter grades. Applying a few of these strategies can significantly enhance your essay responses and improve your grade!