Many college instructors have a strong preference for essay exams for a simple reason: Essay exams promote higher-order critical thinking, whereas other types of exams tend to be exercises in memorization. Generally, advanced courses are more likely to include essay exams than are lower-level courses. To be successful on essay exams, follow these guidelines:
Analyze | Divide 184
something into its parts to understand it better; show how the parts work together to produce the overall pattern. |
Compare | Look at the characteristics or qualities of several things and identify their similarities or differences. Don’t just describe the traits; define how the things are alike and how they are different. |
Contrast | Identify the differences between things. |
Criticize/Critique | Analyze and judge something. Criticism can be positive, negative, or both. A criticism should generally contain your own judgments (supported by evidence) and those of authorities who can support your point. |
Define | Give the meaning of a word or expression. Giving an example sometimes helps clarify a definition, but an example by itself is not a definition. |
Describe | Give a general verbal sketch of something in narrative or other form. |
Discuss | Examine or analyze something in a broad and detailed way. Discussion often includes identifying the important questions related to an issue and attempting to answer these questions. A good discussion explores all relevant evidence and information. |
Evaluate | Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of something. Evaluation is similar to criticism, but the word evaluate stresses the idea of how well something meets a certain standard or fulfills some specific purpose. |
Explain | Clarify something. Explanations generally focus on why or how something has come about. |
Interpret | Explain the meaning of something. In science you might explain what an experiment shows and what conclusions can be drawn from it. In a literature course you might explain—or interpret—what a poem means beyond the literal meaning of the words. |
Justify | Argue in support of some decision or conclusion by showing sufficient evidence or reasons in its favor. Try to support your argument with both logical and concrete examples. |
Narrate | Relate a series of events in the order in which they occurred. You will also usually be asked to explain something about the events you are narrating. |
Outline | Present a series of main points in an appropriate order. Some instructors want an outline with Roman numerals for main points followed by letters for supporting details. If you are in doubt, ask the instructor whether he or she wants a formal outline. |
Prove | Give a convincing logical argument and evidence in support of some statement. |
Review | Summarize and comment on the main parts of a problem or a series of statements. A review question usually also asks you to evaluate or criticize. |
Summarize | Give information in brief form, omitting examples and details. A summary is short but covers all important points. |
Trace | Narrate a course of events. Whenever possible, you should show connections from one event to the next. |