Taking Exams: Teaching students how to take exams

Timothy Cornwall, PHD, DTM

Taking exams is not easy for many students, but it is still an integral part of their education. Hopefully, by providing tips and showing the benefits of organizing, they will be able to manage other exams with increased confidence and levels of success.

It has been my experience that few students have been given any insight into how they should approach writing an exam or spend their time considering the scoring scheme in terms of time allowed.

Taking an exam or pacing yourself correctly when completing something that is bound by time constraints is a very important and useful skill, not only in academia but in the real world.

With this in mind, I take time to instruct students on how to be more competent exam takers and, with the exams I give, help them put this theory into practice.

1) Read first

It is surprising how many students do not read an exam before they start; they simply begin with the first question and work their way through it one by one. This is not a good idea, especially if the first question is difficult and hurts their confidence. Needless to say, my first question is always unbelievably difficult and invariably worth one or two points.

Read through the questions I recommend, then make a list with three columns.

In the first column, list the questions in order of difficulty, starting with the easiest. In the second column, record the maximum points awarded for the question. Third, estimate the score you believe you can achieve. Finally, add this total, and hopefully, it will be sufficient for a passing grade. On many exams, I provide this chart and note which students know why it is there and use it.

When students know they can pass an exam, particularly a difficult one, they should be able to relax. While they still need to write it, this reduction in tension should help them work more efficiently. In addition, as they work on easier questions, they may find that questions that initially appeared to be difficult become easier.

It is not a perfect solution and is not always applicable, for example, with listening tests. However, with reading and writing, I encourage students to answer questions in any order they choose.

2) Time-score ratio

When taking an exam, divide the time allowed by the number of points awarded. A simple bit of math many students, to their chagrin, do not complete. I find it heartbreaking when strong students spend an inordinate amount of time answering a question worth four points and then lack time to complete the last question worth 20.

In a two-hour exam, I recommend taking ten minutes at the start to read the exam and complete the calculations mentioned above and leaving ten at the end to review answers or, in case a question takes longer to answer than planned. With a 120-minute exam, this will leave 100 minutes or one minute per point.

Then, return to the table and add two more columns. In the fourth column, record how many minutes it should take to complete each answer. In the last column, record the time the first question starts and create a schedule as to when each question should start.

When I give an exam, I like to proctor my exams so that I can write start, finish, and remaining times on the board. While I do not want to disturb students, if I write how the time remaining every ten minutes, I find many students realize they are behind schedule and pick up the pace.

Dr. Tim Cornwall has been teaching EFL for over 45 years. He is currently a faculty member of the Thongsook College International Program BA TESOL. He can be reached via email at dr.tim@thongsook.college.

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