The Threat of Underestimating an At-Home, Open Book Exam and How to Prepare for One:

Your finals are just a couple weeks away and you haven’t even started jotting down some notes to read over the night before your exam (don’t worry we’ve all been there). But its fine because its an open-book exam, right? Wrong! Open-book exams are not what they first seem, so we're recapping the myths of open-book exams and our most effective study prep tips when faced with one.

Myth 1: “I don’t need to study”

Don’t be fooled (as I once have), open book exams do not give you the freedom to just power up your laptop and open up your notes for the first time in the middle of your exam. This style of exam is more than just rote-learning, its goal is to make you critically engage with the content by:

1. Reading a question,

2. Being able to determine the relevant topic from the course relating to the question,

And 3. analysing and applying your knowledge in a critical manner.

If you’re not able to read a question and pinpoint the exact topic you should be referring to in your response, you’re really harming your chances of performing well. The only way to be able to recognise which themes and theories you should be referring to is by familiarising yourself with the course content. So, while the open-book exam may seem super chill compared to a typical closed-book exam, it still requires a high level of study and engagement with the course content in the weeks (or at least days) prior.

Myth 2: “I can just copy straight from the textbook”

Like with any assessment, directly copying information from a textbook or notes is considered to be plagiarism (and yes, YOU CAN PLAGIARISE YOURSELF). You might be tempted to just copy a sentence here and there from your textbook as the clock quickly rushes to zero but this will do much more damage in the long run than just handing in a few weak sentences that you rushed in the last few minutes. UNSW takes plagiarism very seriously, and if you’re not quite up to date with all the various forms of plagiarism, you might like to familiarise yourself with them and the various consequences they hold here.

Myth 3: “The more the merrier”

While you might find comfort in knowing you have all the information you need sitting right next to you, having a stack of notes does not necessarily mean you will perform better. In fact, it can end up distracting and overwhelming you as there is no way you’ll be able to read through all your notes AND the exam paper in the couple hours of your exam. Instead, carefully select the most relevant material and organise them for quick reference. You may like to place a “contents page” at the start of your notes so you know exactly which page to flick to and what information you’ll find there.

Preparing for an Open-Book Exam:

Work Smarter Not Harder:

Passing on some of your work load to a couple of mates can really help in easing pressure. A tried and tested way of approaching group study can be done by dividing the weeks or main topics of the term and allocating them to each person in the group. Instead of covering the whole 10 weeks of content yourself, you can now focus on 3-4 weeks and bang out some really detailed notes to share with the other group members. You then have the time to digest the most important parts of the course content, instead of sifting through hours of work and rushed notes. Working with a partner or small group is also helpful in allowing you to look at course content from a different perspective, gaining new insights and maybe having some unique talking points in any short answer or essay questions.

Get Organised!

The one thing that always helps me feel like I’m on top of my study (or at least not falling behind on anything) is a study planner. There is no better feeling than crossing off a task or goal you completed and once you do – don’t forget to take a well-earned break! Study planners are particularly helpful for when you’re feeling overwhelmed with work and other commitments and can’t imagine any opening to fit in some study. By mapping out your day you’ll find little pockets of time to get some effective revision and study in. You don’t have to chain yourself to your desk for hours in order to feel like you’ve had a solid study session, short to medium time slots tend to be more effective as anything longer than 50 minutes tends to drain students and reduce effective study. Download a copy of a UNSW weekly study planner here and find out more about the benefits of short to medium periods of study.

Good luck with your exams! We hope this helps ease the looming pressure of finals week and makes you think twice about just how innocent open-book exams are 🤔