Open-book exams

Sometimes you are allowed to take books, articles, or other course materials into the exam.
You can use these to help you write your answers and check information.

Sometimes dictionaries, reference books, and calculators are allowed.

Find out what is allowed, and what is not. Do this as early as possible.

This system might spare you a lot of worries - but it has both advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

You can look up facts you have forgotten, or you can quote from a book.

You might not need to learn things off by heart.

Having books might give you confidence, even if you don't actually use them.

Disadvantages

You probably won't be able to take anything you wish into the exam. The number of books is likely to be limited.

You might spend too much time searching for a fact, when you should be writing.

You might be tempted to copy out long quotations, when your own arguments are more important.

You might use passages which you have underlined in the books, when these might not be relevant to the question.

There may also be rules about the condition of your books. Sometimes only 'brief marginal annotations' are allowed.

There may also be spot checks during the exam to make sure that this rule is followed.

Example - 1

The following is a real example. It comes from an exam paper on Law.

"You may bring into the examination room any one text book, plus any unbound materials including previous essays and lecture notes."

You would have limited access to books - but a generous allowance on coursework materials.

Law is a subject which relies a lot on government rules and legal case histories.

Students are not expected to remember every detail, but should be able to use such sources of reference.

Example - 2

Here is another real example - from a paper on English Literature.

"You may bring annotated copies of your texts into the examination room with you, but you must not use any additional notes or materials."

You have access to the texts, along with any notes you have written on them.

You can not take in any other books which will help you to answer the questions.