{"id":543,"date":"2022-12-09T16:21:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T16:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/?p=543"},"modified":"2023-02-21T17:07:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:07:46","slug":"tackling-essay-based-exams-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/2022\/12\/09\/tackling-essay-based-exams-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackling essay-based exams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/files\/2022\/10\/69922-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"249\" height=\"166\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/files\/2022\/10\/69922-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-425\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Exam season is almost upon us and one challenge you may find yourself facing is revising for essay-based exams. These can cause a lot of anxiety, not least because essay-based assessments are often something we are used to doing over the course of several weeks. How do you plan, structure and write an essay in the space of a couple of hours? And how on earth do you revise when you don\u2019t know what you\u2019ll be asked?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on for our guide to effective revision and exam technique for essay-based exam questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are essay exams testing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you jump into your revision, it can be helpful to remember that essay exams are not just testing your memory. Instead, your lecturers are looking for evidence of how well you can <em>apply<\/em> the knowledge you have gained throughout the course to solve a problem or answer a question under timed conditions. Therefore, whilst memory is still important \u2013 you\u2019ll need to be able to recall that knowledge in the exam \u2013 it\u2019s only part of the story. You\u2019ll also need to make sure you have an in-depth understanding of that knowledge and have practiced applying it to different questions, problems, and contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How do I revise for essay exams?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may be tempted to write a \u2018generic\u2019 essay on each of the topics you\u2019re revising and memorise them so you can repeat them in the exam room. However, keep in mind that your lecturers are asking you to solve the specific problem they\u2019ve set for you and simply \u2018dumping\u2019 everything that\u2019s relevant won\u2019t address the question and is unlikely to earn you good marks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A more effective approach to revising for essay exams is incorporating strategies that develop your understanding of the topic so you can apply your knowledge to different problems effectively. Some revision strategies you might want to try for this are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Questioning and interrogating the knowledge: why does this happen? How does it happen? Does it always happen this way? Is this always true? What about if we apply it to a different context? What are the implications of this?<\/li><li>Try applying the knowledge to case studies or different scenarios to get a better understanding of how theory works in practice.<\/li><li>Look at past papers or devise your own questions and either answer them in full or sketch out an essay plan under timed conditions. This will help you to test your recall and practice skills you\u2019ll be using in the exam.<\/li><li>Compare and weigh up different approaches to the topic. Does everyone agree on this? Why? Why not? Which perspective is stronger?<\/li><li>Identify gaps in your knowledge and do some additional reading to fill them.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What about strategies for the exam itself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might be used to spending hours or even days planning, writing, and editing a coursework essay and be wondering how on earth you do all of this under timed conditions. Keep in mind that your lecturers <em>know <\/em>that this is a big ask and they are not expecting the same level of sophistication in the way you construct your arguments that they would be looking for in a coursework essay. However, it\u2019s still necessary that your lecturers can follow your answer and see clearly how it addresses the question so:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Spend some time at the beginning paying attention to what the question is asking you. Our video on question analysis offers some strategies for understanding essay questions:<\/li><li>Sketch out a basic structure to follow. This needn\u2019t be more than the main points you want to argue and the order you want to argue them in.<\/li><li>Clearly state your point or communicate your main focus at the beginning of each paragraph to help your reader get their bearings and follow your argument.<\/li><li>If you find yourself running out of time, write down a few bullet points around your remaining points \u2013 you may still pick up a few extra marks for this!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do I need to reference sources in an essay exam? &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While you won\u2019t be expected to reference others to the extent you do in a coursework essay, it\u2019s worth incorporating a few references to back up your points and show how you worked out your answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Try to memorise a couple of key arguments and\/or debates made by others for each topic as well as the authors\u2019 surname(s) and the year of the article so that you can cite it in the exam. Don\u2019t worry about the details \u2013 just one or two lines summarising their main argument is enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to know more? Come along to our Your Skills: Exam Techniques and Revision Strategies workshop to find out about effective revision strategies and ways to tackle both in person and 24-hour take-home exams. Book online here:&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/newcastle-uk.libcal.com\/event\/3920456\">https:\/\/newcastle-uk.libcal.com\/event\/3920456<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exam season is almost upon us and one challenge you may find yourself facing is revising for essay-based exams. These can cause a lot of anxiety, not least because essay-based assessments are often something we are used to doing over &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/2022\/12\/09\/tackling-essay-based-exams-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11139,"featured_media":544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exams-and-revision","category-new-at-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":553,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions\/553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}