Tips to preparing online exam - by Guest Writer Rajesh Krishnamuti
Tips to preparing online exam
In the course of your studies, many of you will be completing online examinations. For some of you, it will be your first experience with an online exam. Completing an exam online is a lot like completing a face-to-face exam. However, there are some differences and knowing what they are can help you better prepare for an online exam.
What is an open book exam?
Many of you will also be completing timed open book exams. An open book exam is an assessment task that allows you to refer to your textbook or any other approved material as you answer your questions, within a stipulated time frame
What is an online exam?
An online exam is not a pen and paper task; it is a task that requires you to type your answers in a computer. In some exams, you will be asked to type your answers on a WORD document and upload it to a submission link.
How to prepare for an open book exam?
The myth of the open book exam
Open book exams sound like they are easy, but they can be quite challenging. Some students think that ‘open’ means they will have time to find the answers from their textbook and only minimal preparation is required before the exams.
However, this is rarely the case as most questions in an open book exam expect you to apply your knowledge of a topic. Hence, you will need to devote your time to analysing the question. Moreover, having to look for information in a timed exam can be stressful, especially if you are unfamiliar with the topic.
Thus, it is important that you prepare for an open book exam like you were preparing for a closed book exam. You do not need to commit everything to memory, but you do need to ensure that you have clearly understood all the key concepts, theories and ideas before you sit your exam.
Knowing the contents of your textbook and where key topics can be found is also useful. If your tutor has given you some information (or ‘hints’) on examinable topics, you should mark your textbook with coloured tags. This will greatly reduce the time taken to look for information during the exam.
Getting ready
To prepare for your online exams, you may want to consider the following:
• Well-connected to the internet and have downloaded all appropriate software.
• Ensure that other members of your household are not using your wi-fi unnecessarily during your exam.
• Set aside a study space that is quiet, comfortable, well-lit and free from distractions such as social media, the internet and your mobile phones are switched off.
• Eaten something before the exam, have rested well and used the bathroom.
• Practise your typing skills and revise for your exams at the same time by typing your notes or responses to past exams onto a blank WORD document. Remember, your typing speed and accuracy can be critical in exams.
What if I get stuck at a question during the exam?
If you get stuck at a question, you can analyse and identify its three key components: the topic, the task words and the scope of the question.
• Topic of the question: What is the question about? What topic are you being tested on?
• Task words: Task words normally indicate how to approach a question. For example, a ‘discuss’ question requires you to provide all perspectives on a topic before communicating your perspective supported by evidence. On the other hand, ‘analyse’ requires you to provide a critical perspective of the topic by asking how and why something has happened.
· ‘Evaluate’ requires you to assess the quality, worth or value of something.
• Scope words: As you cannot be expected to write everything on a topic, every exam question will have certain words that limit the breadth of what’s required in an answer. You should identify words of phrases that state how much you need to write to give your answer focus. For example, the question can ask you to list ‘x number of reasons’, ‘x advantage or disadvantage’ or ‘the effects of the problem on x number of organisms.
I hope this is useful for you. All the best to your exams!