How to Take an Open-Book Exam

Open-book exams sound like a dream come true, but are often harder than regular exams. Follow these steps to open the book on success.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Running Watches
• Post-it Notes
• Highlighter Pens
• Index Cards
• Spiral Notebooks

1. Study hard for the exam (see Related eHow).

2. Bring as much material as the teacher or professor will allow. If you're lucky, this will include lecture notes and study notes.

3. Decide on the order in which you will answer the questions. First tackle the questions you're most confident answering, to help get you into the groove.

4. Allot yourself a realistic amount of time to answer each question.

5. Scan through your materials for anything that might be relevant to the question.

6. Use sticky notes or tabs to mark places where you find useful information.

7. Make an outline for your answer based both on your knowledge and on the information you found.

8. Write your answer by following the outline and looking up material as you go.

9. Repeat this process for each question.

10. Don't look over your answer once you're done; instead, move on to the next question. If you have spare time at the end of the exam, go over your answers at that point.

Tips & Warnings

• Bring a watch so that you don't have to rely on anyone else's timekeeping.
• Watch the time closely as you write your answers. The problem with an open-book exam is that you have so much information at your disposal that you could write forever.
• Pay more attention to content than to style. Your teacher understands the tight constraints of a timed exam and will make allowances.
• Avoid accusations of cheating by making sure you only bring the materials allowed by your teacher or professor.
• If you're running short on time, don't panic, since panic feeds on itself. Instead, take a deep breath and think about how to re-allocate your time.

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on 8/8/2006 I just took my first open-book exam after not having taken one for a long time. I learned that if you force your mind to outline as you read your text, then it really helps your memory. I did that, and then I also made sure to have my book as backup, and it was great because all I wound up doing was using my outline and that was it. My test was essay format and I loved taking it after studying for it in the aforementioned fashion.
However, you always have to make sure that you are using what you are permitted to use. Make sure of that before you even plan to study, it is important to follow rules like that.
In this day and age, there are a lot of virtual cliff notes out there. A professor can tell if you are using them on an open book test really quickly because: they are obvious, and other students might be using them also. So, my other bit of advice is to make sure any and all study materials are written in long hand and broadcast that to your professor by having your handwritten notes right there on your desk or something. I took a class a while back that has all open book tests and all the students used cliff notes to the point of no return. I refrained from doing that and just had everything in long hand at all times, worked really hard, and earned an A.
Good luck.