Before you answer a question, read the entire exam so that you can apportion your time realistically. Pay particular attention to how many points you may earn in different parts of the test; notice any directions that suggest how long an answer should be or how much space it should take up. As you are doing so, you may wish to make tentative choices of the questions you will answer and decide on the order in which you will answer them. If you have ideas about how you would organize any of your answers, you might also jot down scratch outlines. But before you start to complete any answers, write down the actual clock time you expect to be working on each question or set of questions. Careful time management is crucial to your success on essay exams; devoting some time to each question is always better than using up your time on only a few.
Before beginning to write your first answer, analyze the question carefully so that you can focus your attention on the information that will be pertinent to your answer. Consider this question from a sociology final:
Drawing from lectures and discussions on the contradictory aspects of American values, the “bureaucratic personality,” and the behaviors associated with social mobility, discuss the problems of attaining economic success in a relatively “open,” complex, post-industrial society such as the United States.
Though the question looks confusing at first, once you sort it out, you will find that it contains the key terms for the answer’s thesis, as well as the main points of development. Look first at the words that give you directions: draw from and discuss. The term discuss invites you to list and explain the problems of attaining economic success. The categories of these problems are already identified in the opening phrases: “contradictory . . . values,” “bureaucratic personality,” and “behaviors associated with social mobility.” Therefore, you would begin with a thesis that includes the key words in the final clause (“attaining economic success in a relatively open, complex, post-industrial society”) and then take up each category of problem—and perhaps other problems you can think of—in separate paragraphs.
Typical Essay Exam Questions
The next section presents questions in nine common categories (on the left) with an explanation of how students should respond to each question (on the right). All the examples are drawn from short quizzes, midterms, and final exams for a variety of first- and second-year courses. These questions demonstrate the range of writing you may be expected to do on exams. Pay particular attention to how the directions and key words in each case help you define the writing task.
Notice that each question indicates the amount of time students should devote to their answer. In reality, students are often expected to determine how much time to spend, depending on the number of points allocated to the question—for example, students should spend half the exam period answering a question that could earn half the exam’s points. In general, instructors expect students to need the entire exam period to write an effective essay exam. If you find that you have finished the exam in half the time, review your answers: You probably have not included all the information your instructor was looking for.
See Chapter 16 for more on defining.
Define or Identify Questions that require you to write a few sentences defining or identifying material from readings or lectures may ask for a brief overview of a large topic, or a more detailed definition or identification of a more narrowly defined topic. In composing a definition or identification, always ask yourself why this item is important enough to be on the exam.
| Question 29.1 (15/100 points; 15 minutes) | |
| What are the three stages of African literature? | This question asks for a brief overview of a large topic. Answering this question would involve naming the periods is historical order and then describing each period in a sentence or two. |
| Question 29.2 (20/100 points; 20 minutes) | |
Define and state some important facts concerning each of the following:
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With no more than three or four minutes for each part, students answering Question 29.2 would offer a concise definition for each item (probably in a sentence) and add facts relevant to the main topics in the course. |
For more on paraphrasing and summarizing, see Chapter 12, and Chapter 26, pp. 706–8.
Recall Details of a Specific Source Sometimes instructors will ask for a straightforward summary or paraphrase of a specific source—for example, a book or a film. To answer such questions, the student must recount details directly from the source without interpretation or evaluation. In the following example from a sociology exam, students were allowed about ten minutes to complete the answer on one lined page provided with the exam.
| Question 29.3 (100/100 points; 50 minutes) | |
| In his article “Is There a Culture of Poverty?” Oscar Lewis addresses a popular question in the social sciences: What is the “culture of poverty”? How is it able to come into being, according to Lewis? That is, under what conditions does it exist? When does he say a person is no longer a part of the culture of poverty? What does Lewis say is the future of the culture of poverty? | The phrasing in Question 29.3 invites a fairly clear-cut structure: Each of the five questions can be turned into an assertion and supported with examples from Lewis’s article. For example, the first two questions could become assertions like these: “Lewis defines the culture of poverty as ,” and “According to Lewis, the culture of poverty comes into being through .” The important thing in this case is to summarize accurately what the writer said and not waste time evaluating or criticizing his ideas. |
Explain the Importance or Significance Another kind of essay exam question asks students to explain the importance of something covered in the course. Such questions require specific examples as the basis for a more general discussion of what has been studied. This type of question often involves interpreting a literary or cinematic work by concentrating on a particular aspect of it.
| Question 29.4 (10/100 points; 15 minutes) | |
| In the last scene of Paths of Glory, the owner of a café brings a young German woman onto a small stage in his café to sing for the French troops, while Colonel Dax looks on from outside the café. Briefly explain the significance of this scene in relation to the movie as a whole. | In answering this question, a student’s first task would be to reconsider the whole movie, looking for ways in which this one brief scene illuminates or explains larger issues or themes. Then, in a paragraph or two, the student would summarize these themes and point out how each element of the scene fits into the overall context. |
| Question 29.5 (10/100 points; 20 minutes) | |
| Chukovsky gives many examples of cute expressions and statements uttered by small children. Give an example of two of the kinds of statements that he finds interesting. Then state their implications for understanding the nature of language in particular and communication more generally. | For Question 29.5 (on a communications exam), students would start by choosing examples of children’s utterances from Chukovsky’s book. These examples would then provide the basis for demonstrating the student’s grasp of the larger subject. Questions like these require students to decide for themselves the significance of the information and to organize the answer so that the general ideas are clearly developed. |
See Chapter 4 for more on explaining a concept.
Apply Concepts Very often, courses in the humanities and the social sciences emphasize significant themes, ideologies, or concepts. A common type of essay exam question asks students to apply the concepts to works studied in the course.
| Question 29.6 (45/130 points; 40 minutes) | |
| Several works studied in this course depict scapegoat figures. Select two written works and two films, and discuss how their authors or directors present and analyze the social conflicts that lead to the creation of scapegoats. | The answer to Question 29.6 would provide an introductory paragraph defining the concept “scapegoat” and referring to the works to be discussed. Then the student would devote a paragraph or two to the works, pointing out specific examples to illustrate the concept. A concluding paragraph would probably attempt to bring the concept into clearer focus. |
Comment on a Quotation On essay exams, an instructor will often ask students to comment on a quotation they are seeing for the first time. Usually, such quotations will express some surprising or controversial opinion that complements or challenges basic principles or ideas in the course. Sometimes the writer being quoted is identified, sometimes not. In fact, it is not unusual for instructors to write the quotation themselves.
See Chapter 19 for more on these components of an argument.
| Question 29.7 (75/100 points; 90 minutes) | |
| “Some historians believe that economic hardship and oppression breed social revolt, but the experience of the United States and Mexico between 1900 and 1920 suggests that people may rebel also during times of prosperity.”Comment on this statement. Why did large numbers of Americans and Mexicans wish to change conditions in their countries during the years from 1900 to 1920? How successful were their efforts? Who benefited from the changes that took place? | Question 29.7, from a midterm exam in a history course, asks students to “comment,” but the three questions make clear that a successful answer would require an argument: a clear thesis stating a position on the views expressed in the quotation, specific reasons for that thesis, and support for the thesis from readings and lectures. In general, such questions do not have a “correct” answer: Whether students agree or disagree with the quotation is not as important as whether they can argue their case reasonably and convincingly, demonstrating a firm grasp of the subject matter. |
See Chapter 18 for more on comparing and contrasting.
Compare and Contrast Instructors are particularly fond of essay exam questions that require a comparison and contrast of two or three principles, ideas, works, activities, or phenomena. To answer this kind of question, you need to explore fully the relations between the things to be compared, analyze each one separately, and then search out specific points of likeness or difference. Students must thus show a thorough knowledge of the things being compared, as well as a clear understanding of the basic issues on which comparisons and contrasts can be made. Whether the point of comparison is stated in the question or left for you to define for yourself, your answer needs to be limited to the aspects of similarity or difference that are most relevant to the general concepts or themes covered in the course.
| Question 29.8 (50/100 points; 1 hour) | |
| Compare and analyze the views of colonialism presented in Memmi’s Colonizer and the Colonized and Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers. What are the significant differences between these two views? | Often, as in Question 29.8, the basis of comparison will be limited to a particular focus; here, for example, students are asked to compare two works in terms of their views of colonialism. |
| Question 29.9 (50/100 points; 1 hour) | |
| What was the role of the United States in Cuban affairs from 1898 until 1959? How did its role there compare with its role in the rest of Spanish America during the same period? | Sometimes instructors will simply identify what is to be compared, as in Question 29.9. In this question from a Latin American history exam, students are left the task of choosing the basis of the comparison. |
For more on synthesizing, see Chapter 12,.and Chapter 26, pp. 697–98, 700–701.
Synthesize Information from Various Sources In a course with several assigned readings, an instructor may ask students to pull together, or synthesize, information from several or even all the readings.
For more on forecasting statements, see Chapter 13.
| Question 29.10 (25/100 points; 30 minutes) | |
| On the basis of the articles read on El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico, what would you say are the major problems confronting Latin America today? Discuss the major types of problems with references to particular countries as examples. | Question 29.10, from the final in a Latin American studies course, asks students to decide which major problems to discuss, which countries to include in each discussion, and how to use material from many readings to develop their answers, all in half an hour. To compose a coherent essay, a student will need a carefully developed forecasting statement. |
See Chapter 9 for more on analyzing causes.
Analyze Causes In humanities and social science courses, much of what students study concerns the causes of trends, actions, and events. Hence, it is not surprising to find questions about causes on essay exams. In such cases, the instructor expects students to analyze causes of various phenomena discussed in readings and lectures.
| Question 29.11 (25/100 points; 30 minutes) | |
| Given that we occupy several positions in the course of our lives and given that each position has a specific role attached to it, what kinds of problems or dilemmas arise from those multiple roles, and how are they handled? | Question 29.11 comes from a midterm exam in sociology. The question requires students to develop a list of causes in the answer. The causes would be organized under a thesis statement, and each cause would be argued and supported by referring to lectures or readings. |
See Chapter 8 for more on evaluation.
Criticize or Evaluate Occasionally, instructors will include essay exam questions that invite students to evaluate a concept or a work. They want more than opinion: They expect a reasoned, documented evaluation based on appropriate standards of judgment. Such questions test students’ ability to recall and synthesize pertinent information and to understand and apply criteria taught in the course.
| Question 29.12 (10/85 points; 20 minutes) | |
| Eisenstein and Mukerji both argue that movable print was important to the rise of Protestantism. Cole extends this argument to say that print set off a chain of events that was important to the history of the United States. Summarize this argument, and evaluate any part of it if you choose. | Question 29.12 appeared on a communications course midterm that asked students to answer “in two paragraphs.” The question asks students to summarize and evaluate an argument that appears in several course readings. The students would probably use the writing strategies of comparison and contrast to analyze and evaluate the authors’ views. |