Open Book Preparation Guidelines - for Summative Assessment (Exam)

Students often have wrong ideas about open book summative assessment, such as:

“I don’t need to study much for my summative assessment because the information will be
right there for me to look up”

OR

“All I’ll need to do for the summative assessment is copy the answers out of the text.”

Here is the truth about open book assessment and how to prepare for, and write, them.

Unlike traditional closed book exams where students are required to rely solely on their recall
of exam topics, open book summative assessment allows students to consult reference
materials (study guides, notes, textbook, articles, etc.) in the course of completing the
assessment. But don't be deceived. Just because the summative assessment is open book
doesn't mean it will be easier, or any less challenging, than a closed book exam. In fact, the
opposite is often true. While closed book exams place emphasis on memorization and recall,
open book assessment places focus on higher level learning and typically require students to
apply, evaluate, analyse, or synthesise information, rather than simply remember it. An open
book summative assessment requires a genuine understanding of the material and be able to
interpret, apply, think critically, and present an organised and well written answer. In an open
book exam, the focus is not on memorizing information but applying that information. What
this means for you is that you will not simply be summarizing material from a textbook. You
will be interpreting it in the context of specific questions, case studies and scenarios.

Memorization is largely unnecessary for an open book summative assessment. However, this
does not mean you do not need to study. This is not the case. Focus is shifted to understanding
the material rather than simply being able to memorize and recite it. You will not be asked
questions like, "Define X" but rather, "Explain your understanding of a concept" or "What
implications does X have on Y current event?" You should make sure you truly understand
the material before doing the assessment.

What should I expect?

The lecturer knows that you have your notes and text right in front of you, so is unlikely to ask
questions that just call on you to copy information.

 Instead, open book assessment tends to require students to apply, analyse,

synthesize, compare/contrast or evaluate1 information. They test whether you
understand the “big picture” of the subject and how subject concepts work together.
 For example, you might be given a problem, case study or a scenario and asked to
apply concepts from several parts of the subject to it to develop an answer.
 The lecturer will be looking for well-structured and presented arguments or solutions.
 The summative assessment is likely to be more challenging than an exam, and the
lecturer is likely to have higher expectations for the quality of your answers and the
extent of your critical and analytical thinking, knowing you have course materials
available to draw upon.

1
Preparation is key
Open book assessment focuses on "higher level learning". What does this mean? It means
that you don't focus on rote memorization or recall. The purpose of the open book assessment
is to test your understanding of a subject matter. You'll be asked to formulate, compare,
analyse, evaluate, or synthesize information, rather than just recall it. Consequently, open
book assessment is often more challenging than other types of tests – even with an
overabundance of reference materials at your fingertips. Since open book assessment can be
more challenging than other types of tests, you must adequately prepare. Approach your
preparation for an open book assessment like you would any other test/exam.

Don’t place to much emphasis on reference materials

One of the biggest mistakes students make when preparing for an open book assessment is
placing too much emphasis on reference materials. During an open book assessment,
especially a timed one (6 hours), extensive study guides, notes, textbooks and other reference
materials can quickly become a crutch rather than an asset. Don't expect to have time to
review your study guides, notes, re-read your textbook, or discover new information
during an open book assessment – because you won't.

Organise your reference materials

There is a famous quote by Barbara Benedek which says, "More isn't always better.
Sometimes it's just more." This could very easily be applied to open book assessment. Having
extensive notes, books and other reference materials available for the summative
assessment, is rarely beneficial, in fact, in most cases it will hinder performance. Your
reference materials should be exactly that, "reference" materials. Make sure all reference
materials you want to use are organized and that you know ahead of time exactly where all
information is that you may need to assist you in answering questions. It will be useful to
create an outline/framework of your reference materials so that you can quickly find
important information once the assessment has begun.

Review the course objectives and themes

This is a great place to start setting up an outline/framework for organizing your notes, starting
your review, and beginning to make connections between the subject ideas that will be
important for those higher-order thinking questions.

First, review your syllabus:

 What are the learning outcomes/objectives? What do you lecturers say that they would
like you to understand by the end of the subject?
 What are the major themes or topics of the subject?
 How is the subject organized?
 What have been the most important readings?
 Can you sum up the main idea(s) or guiding principle(s) of the subject?

As you take note of the outcomes/objectives/themes/readings, start to think about connections

between them – how does one lead into the next? How are they related to each other? How
do they relate to the assessment you’ve done?

Identify key concepts and terms which will more than likely appear on the summative
assessment. Use information provided by the lecturer to pinpoint what is likely to be included
in the assessment. After you've done this, locate where this information is covered in the

2
textbook/study guide/articles. Once you've begun your summative assessment, with respect
to your reference materials, your main concern is locating information, not studying it. You
should come to the assessment already having studied all key concepts and topics.

Make a system

As a last step to prepare for the summative assessment, make sure you have a system in
place for finding the information you need quickly! Here are some tips for developing your
system:

 Set up your assessment work space so that you have room to work and room to lay
out the resources you will need so they are close at hand
 Have your notes in a binder so that you aren’t shuffling through loose pages. Make use
of physical dividers, sticky notes, etc. so that you can quickly jump to the section you
need.
 Make a chart or table of contents for quick reference to big concepts, key systems, or
other forms of organization. Annotate your chart or table of contents with summaries
of main ideas for each unit, topic, category of information.
 Colour code your charts and notes. Use sticky notes, highlighters, etc.
 Mark important pages in your readings or textbooks. Use labelled sticky notes to help
you quickly find key information.

Familiarise yourself with key concepts

Many students do not familiarize themselves with key concepts before open book assessment.
Students often figure that they can simply look up answers while they're doing the assessment.
However, open book assessment usually covers more information and takes longer to
complete than traditional tests/exams. You'll likely run out of time if you rely on your book for
every answer. Your book and notes should only be used as reference resources for difficult
questions or questions that require specific information.

Effective studying goes beyond just reading through your notes. If you have highlighted
themes, organized ideas, and made connections between those ideas, that’s a great start.
Remember that open-book assessment questions will likely be looking for more application,
examples or more evidence of analysis and critical thinking – i.e. more than simple recall of
information. Write your own commentary on information. As you'll be tested primarily on
interpretation, write down your own commentary and insight in your notes. Challenge yourself
to explain what you think about the material, and why. This helps hone your critical thinking
skills, which will be needed for an open book assessment.

Learn your material as thoroughly as you would for any other exam. Do not count on having
time to look up all your answers.

Don’t plagiarise

Never copy information directly from the book and pass it off as your own work or answer on
an open book assessment. Lecturers are concerned with what their students have learned,
not whether they can locate information in a book. It is permissible to use quotes from the
book, or lecture notes, to support your positions or analysis, but do not rely too heavily on
them.

3
Doing the summative assessment

Now it’s assessment time! Here are some tips for actually doing the summative assessment.

The same time management rules that apply to general test/exam taking also apply to doing
open book assessment. First, at the offset of the assessment review how many questions
there are and determine how much time you can spend on each question. Then answer the
questions you are familiar with before answering those that are more difficult or will require
using your reference materials. Finally, don't over answer questions. Be concise, accurate,
yet thorough. This will make it possible to complete the open book assessment and submit it
on time and achieve a higher score.

 Timing – the most important component! Plan the time you have per question based
on grade/weighting and total time allocated. Check your pace and skip ahead if you
need to.
 Reading the question – understand what the question is asking; identify key words in
the question.
 For questions that you aren’t sure about, take time to refer to your notes. Use your
study charts or table of contents (or the search function for digital notes) to find relevant
content for the question quickly.
 For free response questions, write full and complete answers with appropriate detail to
demonstrate your understanding of course concepts.

Once finished, you should spend any extra time reviewing and proofreading your work for
grammatical or spelling errors.

Adapted and compiled from:

https://www.educationcorner.com/openbook-tests.html
https://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/how-guides/how-study/prepare-and-write-
exams/preparing-online-open-book-exam
https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/learning/exam-types/open-book-exams
https://www.wikihow.com/Take-an-Open-Book-Exam