Strategies for Answering Examination Essay Questions

Two studies were performed to examine student beliefs about the importance of plan writing in examinations and the relationship between plan writing and answer quality. In the first study 56 first year undergraduate students completed a questionnaire concerning exam technique. Of these, 86 per cent believed that the best way to start examination essay questions was by writing a plan. In the second study examination answers and associated rough notes were collected from 54 first year undergraduate students. There was no significant association between grade awarded and plan writing, plan type or students' reasons for planning. These results are consistent with those of previous studies. The failure to find empirical justification for advising students to produce written plans for their examination essays would be expected on the basis of recent theories of writing that suggest that trying to follow a written plan can interfere with the generation of ideas through writing

Empirical examination · Epistemology · Mathematics education · Medical education · Pedagogy · Plan (archaeology) · Quality (philosophy) · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · History · Medicine · Psychology · Student Assessment and Feedback · Writing and Handwriting Education

• The writing experiences of social science research students

  Morag Torrance, Glyn V Thomas et al.•Studies in Higher Education•1992

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