This post will focus on what makes a good exam essay. A good exam essay is distinct from the kind of essays you will write as part of coursework and other modules assessments. There are very different expectations of what you can produce within exam conditions and timing, but that can’t be used as an excuse for poor writing.
Generally, essays written as part of an examination are:
- written without access to the resources like books, notes and the internet
- time-restricted, generally providing you between 40 and 60 minutes to write your response
- hand-written, taking longer to write and also offering no form of spelling or grammar check.
So what is expected in an exam?
The most important thing in your exam is to ensure you answer the question. If you stray off topic, it becomes difficult for your lecturer to award marks. You should also prioritise your response to ensure you provide the answer as soon as possible in your essay – preferably in your introduction. You don’t want to find you’ve run out of time before you make your main point or points. It’s no surprise that 80% of marks are gained in the first 50% of exam essays.
In an exam, you don’t have any time to waste so it is particularly important for you to stay focused and be strategic in your answer. There are a number of things that can help you achieve a good examination reponse. Understanding the question, planning your response and manging your time are all critical. The following section will look at this in more detail.
How to approch essay questions in an exam
1 – Select a question
When starting an exam, always read the instructions carefully. They will indicate how many questions you need to answer and what each part of the exam involved. If you have a choice of question take some time to read all of the options you have an select the most appropriate for you. You need to ensure you choose topics you are the most confident in – but also questions you understand.
Always read the exam instructions carefully to see how much time you have and how many questions you need to answer. Divide your time between them based on how many marks they are worth.
2 – Scrutinize your chosen question
When you have chosen the question you are going to use, you need to carefully scrutinise it. This is really important as you want to ensure you answer follows the correct instruction targets the required aspect, subject and scope. This is always time well spent in an exam as any writing that doesn’t address the question asked of you will not gain you any marks.
We have a whole blog on decoding essay questions that is still relevant for exams.
3 – Plan your essay outline
Under exam conditions most students feel like there is no time to plan, but this can be the most valuable three or four minutes you spend in an exam. This can be done as a brief mind map, a quick outline or a few bullet points. It doesn’t have to be detailed, just enough to help you plan out your response. It will also give you a feel for how you need to split your time across each aspect of your writing. Remember to always lead with the most important bits first. Use your plan to help identify these.
While you should plan, make sure you limit your time spend on this. You should not spend more than 5-10 minutes reading instructions, choosing questions and planning.
4 – Write your answer in brief (your position)
In a normal word processed essay, your introduction would evolve as your write your essay. This can’t happen in a handwitten exam. Your intoduction should succintly set out your answer or ‘position’ on the issue introduced. As part of this you should outline all of the core points that lead to this answer or position, before you move onto the detail in the main body of your essay.
In short, your position should succintly summerise your answer as a whole. You can use this as the introduction to your exam essay. This is one of the reasons a plan is important as you need to know what this is before you start writing your essay.
5 – Write the essay
After setting out the answer in your introduction, you can spend the rest of the time set aside for the question (minus five minutes) on your main body. You should use this as an opportunity to establish the detail of your answer, the evidence and reason behind it. This won’t be as polished as coursework, but you should try and follow the rules of good paragraph structure in constructing your answer. This doesn’t need to be perfect, but try to ensure you start a new paragraph as you move onto new points.
In relation to evidence, many subjects will expect some references within your exam essays. This does not require you to provide a reference list or bibliography – just a few appropriate in-text citations. You should speak to your lecturers about this to see what their expectations are. If wanted, try to memorise at least a few key ones before your exam.
If you have the time, it is helpful to include a conclusion. This doesn’t have to be very detailed, but should pick out the core points of your exam essay and how this has addressed the question.
6 – Polish
You should try and save five minutes or so at the end of the time to check your answer. You won’t have time to proofread in detail, but you should revisit your plan and ensure you have addressed all the points there. If you are running out of time, it may be better to finish your essay with a few bullet points. This should be a last resort – but it is better than missing important points.
If you have the time, it can be useful to briefly check your handwriting. If it gets a bit messy at some point, try and correct it to ensure it is legible (consider using an erasable pen like the Pilot Frixion ones they sell in the SU shop). It’s better to write clearly in the first place though – so try and pace your work!
Never leave an exam early! You should spent every minute checking and enhancing your work if you do complete it early.