What is it?
How you write in an exam will differ depending on the type of question being asked. Exam questions may be:
The type of questions in an exam will differ between disciplines and between modules, so make sure you understand which type(s) of questions you will have to answer. If you are in doubt, check with your lecturer.
Why do I need to learn it?
Many of the skills needed for writing in exams will be the same as those needed for writing in other contexts. Our Academic Writing Guide has more information on this. You need to follow academic conventions just like you would in an essay. However because you will be working under exam conditions, particularly working within a time limit and often handwriting answers, you will need to adapt these skills for writing in an exam.
How do I do it?
You will need to read the question carefully to decide what type of answer you need to give – our Understanding the Question Guide has more information about this skill.
Make sure that your voice is clear throughout your answers.The marker will be looking for your thinking and analysis, which demonstrates how well you have understood the material. You will also need to make sure that your responses flow so that the marker can follow your argument. A good way of doing this for an essay question is to begin each paragraph with a sentence that links it to the paragraph above. For a short answer question a good format is a sentence at the beginning to summarise your answer to the question, before adding more detail in the paragraph itself (Brick et al., 2018).
For an essay question, the best way to ensure that an answer covers all aspects of the question and also flows, is to make a plan before you begin to answer the question. The plan should cover all of the aspects of the question, for example, if you are being asked to present an argument then make sure you have planned what your argument will be and how you will present it to the marker (Cottrell, 2012).
Peck and Coyle (2012) suggest a basic three stage plan which can be applied to most questions: the first part of your answer should introduce the topic, the second part should cover the straightforward material relating to the question, and the final third should cover the contradictions or complications you have identified.
In an exam where you do not have access to texts and other resources you will not be expected to provide full citations for others’ work. However, if you can memorise some key references then this will help show that you have read and understood relevant texts. Using an author/date citation (for examples see the references used in this guide) will generally be sufficient, but make sure that you check that this is ok for the subject you are studying (Cottrell, 2012).