For example, in an introductory biology course, moore and jensen purported. Students generally agree that an open book exam is more difficult. A common misunderstanding is that all openbook tests will be so easy that you wont even. Open book examination is about writing an examination by keeping the textbook and notebook open. Pdf closed book, invigilated exams versus open book. Difference between open and closed book examination. Education sciences free fulltext takehome exams in.
Individuals are not tense and they can understand and absorb all that has been taught. Among educators, an excellent way to incite a debate is to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of any particular testing protocol. Closedbook exams will enhance students test preparation and promote deeper learning block, 2012, durning et al. During the experiment, students were given either an openbook, a cheat sheet, or a closedbook exam in an introductory psychology course. Here, the manipulation was slightly different in that actual exam types closedbook, openbook, and cheat sheet were manipulated rather than no. Open book exam outlines should be detailed and formatted in such a way that information is easily accessible.
Further, practicing exam questions ahead of time iswhile important for both open and closedbook exams, even more important in openbook exams as. An openbook exam is a test that lets you bring your books or notes in with you. Open book exams and closed book exams have different pedagogical ends. Usually the purpose of a closed book exam is to asess what you have learned from the material. He got tired of curving exam scores and decided to try out the openbook style. There is also one field experiment investigating the benefits of openbook versus closedbook tests, which was conducted with students in an introductory psychology course gharib et al. The following areas are compared and contrasted for both closedbook and openbook examinations. In december 2012, neal conan from nprs talk of the nation spoke with associate professors of psychology afshin gharib and william phillips from dominican university of california about an experiment they conducted. Williams and amy wong school of business u21global this paper reports on the latest findings of an ongoing research project evaluating the effectiveness of open book, open web obow examinations. The present field study compared openbook testing and closedbook testing in two parallel introductory university courses in cognitive psychology. Closed book tests often have one or two questions like this, but focus more on the memorization of course work, meaning in order to pass a closed book examination, you simply need a good memory and id say its less brain work, but for open book tests, you need both a good memory and understanding of the course material.
On some tests, ive allowed students a 3x5 card, or a one page cheat sheet. While a closed book exam places a premium on accurate and extensive recall, and unless carefully designed, its assessment of students knowledge is likely to be dominated by that ability. Time is of the essence, so the more prepared a student is the better they will do. There are two kinds of open book examinations, the type and the. I didnt have an openbook exam until i was in an upperdivision class. Agarwal, karpicke, kang, roediger, and mcdermott 2008 found that students performed better on openbook tests, but their retention of this knowledge over the longterm was the same as that of the students who took closed. Can students still learn if they are examined in open book. Open book examinations are the ones in which the exams are supposed to be conducted according to me. Student perspectives of open book versus closed book examinationsa case study in satellite communication. The main premise for open book exams is that teachers can devise questions that require students to answer in more critical and analytical ways thus encouraging highorder thinking skills in their students. Even on openbook tests, studying is still required and wise make sure youve studied and adequately prepared for any online test openbook or otherwise. An exam that is closed book is an exam that is taken without additional resources or without the use of your textbook.
Open book exam therefore tests a persons knowledge and organization rather than memorization. So openbook exams yields the best grades in exams, students have lower anxiety compared to closed book and cheat sheet exams but the retention rate is not improved. Assessment is a necessary part of academic studies on all levels. Sure, an open book exam which is just testing rote memorization of facts is going to suck, but so is a closed book test. While this may seem like an easy way to take a test, openbook exams may be harder than youd think since they are about taking information and applying it in. You may listen to music from your laptop, streaming from any source. This is usually met with relief, or joy, or gratitude. I think that open book exams are beneficial, they allow students to apply knowledge and gain understanding instead of putting so much focus on regurgitating facts that they do not. How to succeed on a closed book law school exam jd. Openbook versus closedbook tests in university classes. The students were also asked about their anxiety level before each exam. Combining openbook exams, closedbook exams, and collaborative exams, has the potential to promote growth in several domains.
Two types of open book examinations one may think of two kinds of open book examinations, say the restricted type and the unrestricted type. The differences between openbook, cheat sheet, and closedbook exams were examined in two different types of psychology courses. Closed book, invigilated exams versus open book, open web. Granted, the way an outline is constructed will depend on the format of the exam. A common belief is that open book exams reduces cheating since all the information that a student would wish to look up is already with them. The essential difference between closed book examinations and open book examinations is therefore that the former can still be used to evaluate how much you have memorised, while the latter cannot. There are certainly other assessment methods in use, but the main assessment method at prominent universities is still a proctored, inclass exam ice. Open book and closed book examination are two types of examinations that show difference between them when it comes to their meaning, concept, and application. Thus, you may not use your laptop as a music source. Durning is professor of medicine and pathology, uniformed services university of the health sciences, bethesda, maryland. Prior research has shown that tests enhance learning, but the effects of open vs. There may be reasons to think that openbook tests might promote better learning than closedbook tests. I would like to know the advantages and disadvantages of openbook exams as compared to closedbook exams, particularly in standard undergraduate courses like calculus or linear algebra. Closed book, invigilated exams versus open book, open web exams.
Depending on your law school, you may have many or few closedbook exams. This field experiment was based on a onefactorial betweensubjects design with. Exams are not about memorizing stuff and just writing them to get high scores. In this environment, my feeling is that the only way to run an open book exam is to be testing for mastery of material, rather than problem solving. Open bookmexamination is better than closed book examination because it reduces the chances of cheating. What are the comparative advantages of openbook versus. Openbook exams, closedbook exams, assessment, assurance of learning, education. How to study for a closed book exam deakin law students. Open book, the client pays for day to day items negotiated outside the contract i.
A total of 297 students enrolled in eight sections of introductory psychology and 99 students enrolled in four sections of statistics participated in this study. Luckily for you, dear reader, i took admin law over trimester 3 and can confidently pass on some hints and tips on how to prepare for a closed book exam. The following is the best description i found that is allinclusive for any management, accounting, or designconstruction operation utilizing the closed or open book system. The primary difference between openbook and closedbook exams is a nicelytabbed outline where you can easily find information, should you forget it. I rightly oppose to the thought of openbook examinations. The exam questions are supposed to be designed in a way that the. A closed book system is a system that is not influenced by, nor does it interact with others. Right now, it occurs to me that an open book exam might work better as a formative assessment. In the restricted type of open book examinations, students are permitted to bring into the examination room one or more specific documents approved by the course instructor. The testing effect is one of the most prominent instances.
The study explored the application of closedbook, openbook and cheatsheet exams in an undergraduate cost and management accounting course at a university in ghana. Obviously, closed book exams are usually taken in the classroom, or supervised by a proctor in a library or testtaking center. For example, when i was a firstyear law student, all of my exams were closed book. A closed book exam gives you a much better idea of exactly what they know, but it limits you to a smaller amount of material.
The recent news story of the nhs 111 contract being dropped by nhs direct because they where not making a profit is a classic example of a closed book contract. In these lessons, all students received two to three questions concerning the content of the respective lesson. In the sciences, most exams are a closed book affair. A study by two psychology professors found that student anxiety was least with openbook exams, but knowledge retention was about the same with all three. With an open book exam, you can assess more content, but not know exactly how well they know it. A study by theophilides and koutselini focused on evaluating the behavior of the students prior to and during the exams in each of the open book and closed book formats 2.
Exam types were counterbalanced across sections of the same course. You may listen to music stored locally on your laptop. Closedbook exams stimulate deep learning more than openbook exams. If there are open book tests, what do we get to know about the subject. Closed book exams require more memorization, but open book exams may demand more information from the student.
What do the terms openbook, closedbook, secure, and non. When i tell students that they can bring in their textbook for the exam, they get. Ok, studying for a closed book exam is completely different to studying for an open book exam. For example, if openbook tests do encourage higherlevel thinking. Here are some tips for preparing for a law school exam, regardless of its format.
Half the participants openbook group were allowed to use. Do openbook tests work better than closedbook tests. Feller 1994 further suggested that the openbook exam is superior to closedbook exams as it is more realisticsimilar to problemsolving situations students are likely to face outside of. They can learn more this way, by checking what they have missed, on the spot.
Pdf student perspectives of open book versus closed book. Closed book exams are better because they test our memory. With few exceptions, an inclass, closedbook, invigilated penandpaper exam is the traditional assessment method. Gharib decided to change his traditional, closedbook testing style about 10 years ago. Unlike traditional closed book exams where students are required to rely solely on their recall of exam topics, open book exams allow students to consult reference materials notes, textbook, etc. My practice about 20 years of teaching has always been to give openbook opennotes exams, allowing the students to use their books and notes during the exam. Ive only had open book exams, but talking to people at lower ranked schools that had all closed book exams, it seemed like so much of what they were studying was word for. Open book vs closed book by thomas h walker let us begin with a definition. Closed book exams tend to occupy a middle ground usually. Durning sj1, dong t, ratcliffe t, schuwirth l, artino ar jr, boulet jr, eva k. The best exams and worst exams are usually open book. And also the children cannot know about exams when they grow up. Opennote, cheat sheet, or closedbook examswhich test format is best for students. Examining the testing effect with open and closedbook tests.