How to master your CAP2 open-book exams

Bryan Rankin, Head of Student Operations, gives guidance on how to put together a great set of notes for open-book exams

CAP2 exams are open-book, meaning that you can have as many hard copy (paper) notes and textbooks as you wish. Great! That means these exams will be a piece of cake, right?

Wrong.  

Open-book exams assess students' understanding of the subject matter and its application to real-world problems. They require students to make connections between various areas of a subject, compare, contrast, or evaluate information with pros and cons rather than simply remember and regurgitate learning principles.  

Why is this relevant? The sole objective in an exam is to gain marks from the examiner. Therefore, it’s essential to become very familiar with what skills the examiner is looking for you to exhibit. Your notes play a vital role in this.   

In open-book exams, you won’t have time to look everything up. You should be able to verbally summarise the key concepts in sessions without relying on your notes. You should know your basic facts, concepts and definitions by heart. That way, when writing an exam answer, you don’t have to waste time reminding yourself what the question is about. You’re there, you’re ready to go; you just need to reference some formula or past question in your notes to start typing up the answer.

Less is more

When it comes to the resources for an open-book exam, let’s start with what to avoid. 
Tempting as it is, bringing a pile of textbooks into your exam room in June is the wrong approach. 

Time is your greatest resource, and every minute is an opportunity to score marks. A pile of folders or textbooks may make us feel more secure but will certainly not deliver what you need in the exam, which is speedy reference points and familiarity with the material. 

Effective notes 

Going into your open-book exam, it is ideal that you only have one folder of notes for each exam subject. Start your notes folder with a table of contents so that the specific reference item can be found and used quickly. Then, number each page in your notes to get there faster. Using coloured tabs or post-its can also help you find your content.

Consider including the Competency Statement for each subject. This document, produced by the exams team, is a list of everything examinable. Work your way down the Competency Statement, highlighting areas you find challenging, and check your notes support you on each topic listed. 

In the lead-up to exams, the education team releases two new sessions for students in the Learning Hub. These sessions will include a concise study guide per subject, which gives a high-level summary of the most important concepts covered.  

This study guide is another good starting point from which to build out your notes for each subject. 

Use sample papers

You’ll know at this stage that study revision in preparation for exams should be all about practising exam standard questions from our sample papers or from sessions in the Learning Hub. By practising questions, over time, you will identify the key concepts and themes that may appear in the assessment. 

This approach should be carried throughout your notes. Include past questions where it was attempted and you struggled, highlighting the errors made. 

The mock exam paper and solutions are another core set of resources to utilise. 

Refining your notes

The effectiveness of your notes will make a difference to your assessment. If you sit down with a disorderly mass of papers, you’ll waste time sorting them and may feel overwhelmed and stressed. 

Is your folder well-organised and laid out in a manner that allows you to find important content quickly?  

It’s sensible to compare your notes with friends, but don’t copy someone else’s notes entirely. Their strengths and weaknesses will be represented in their notes, and probably won’t tally with yours.  

Refine your notes for each subject as you get closer to exam week, with the objective of making each folder more concise. 

Review a small portion of your notes every day. Doing this over a long period of time ensures that what you’ve learned will save you time and improve your recall.

Handwritten notes

There is a lot of value in handwriting your notes. 

Studies have shown that you’ll have far better recall when notes are written in your own hand. You can also use colour for additional recall and mind maps to illustrate how one concept links with related learning principles. 

Carefully select key slides from the Learning Hub for your notes folder. Resist the temptation to print out every slide from every session in the subject – most of this won’t help you on exam day. 

By investing time now in your notes, you will be well-positioned to find key information quickly on exam day and will feel a sense of achievement by drawing all the knowledge and skills you have learned together. 

For more on open-book exams, see the CAP2 videos from Prof. Mike Farrell in the Learning Hub.