How to Write Open Book Tests

Open book tests challenge students to comprehend material.

Writing an open book test takes time and preparation. Open book tests should challenge students to exercise critical thinking and creative reasoning. Some instructors assign open book exams as take-home exams. While students often think that open book tests will be easy, in fact, such tests require intense student effort.

Instructions

1. Write open book exam questions that refer to multiple pieces of information and multiple sources. Include, for example, questions for which students must turn to lecture notes, textbooks and handouts.

2. Use words in the exam instructions that indicate the need for critical thinking, cross-referencing skills, and essay composition. The words "describe," "compare and contrast," and "relate" will ask students to do more than regurgitate the information from the text.

3. Design questions that require essay form answers. Essay format keeps students within proscribed boundaries. Make it clear to students on the exam and in writing that non-essay answers will be counted as incorrect.

4. Develop comprehensive open book exam questions. An example of an open book test question for a U.S. History secondary- or college-level exam might read, "Describe the central events that led to the Peace Movement of the 1960s. What groups were central to the movement? How did each event described influence the decisions and actions of each group?"

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure students have access to all materials which they can use to answer fully answer every question.

• Some educators refrain from administering open book tests to students in introductory courses, as recommended by Barbara Gross Davis at the University of California, Berkeley.

References

• University of California, Berkeley: Tools for Teaching: Quizzes, Tests, and Exams