Essay questions

[Eight]

So like, we had to a timed essay today on Media, I think the question was something along the lines of;

'Mass media attempts to appeal to a range of audiences' To what extent does this apply to newspapers?

Sometimes, when I ain't feeling my brightest, I look at these questions, have a major brainfart, and think "I can't do this." And of course, with all my exams consisting of essay based questions, I only get 2 or 3 to answer per paper, unlike, say, my old math GCSE exams where I don't have to worry about messing up 1 because I got 29 others to make up for it, I can't just skip a question or just write pure waffle else I'll be lucky to get a D. God, how I miss questions where there is actually a right and wrong and not theory.

So what does everyone else think of essay questions? Would you rather have your exam consist of just these questions, or multiple choice/questions where there is a simply right and wrong which can be summed up in a sentence or two.

 

[Daenerys]

I love "How far" or "To what extent" questions, as I think they allow more creativity and original thought in answering the question. As long as you can justify your argument, using facts and evidence, whilst being careful about not sounding half-hearted, for example "to a significant extent" sounds much more impressive than "to a certain extent", then they're amazing essay questions. It's much easier to answer a question when you are allowed an opinion.

I'd rather have an essay question than a right/wrong answer question. With an essay question, you can justify your opinion, bring in a wider range of knowledge and show what you know. While with a right/wrong question, you either know it or you don't. If you don't, you're screwed. Whilst with essay questions, as long as you provide a convincing argument, and the examiner/teacher can see how you reached your conclusions, then you can still get a decent mark.

 

[Martel]

I don't mind essay questions, but only if they're very specifically worded. I've had essay questions in the past which, whilst sounding like they've been asking for one thing, have been asking for something else entirely, which is VERY annoying when you find out about it. It's a relief when you find out you're not the only person who missed what the question wanted, but you shouldn't be able to miss what the question wants in the first place.

I prefer shorter essay questions, and the kind that are split up into multiple parts. The kind that asks you about something very specific, but gives you 15 or so marks for it. Like, one 15 mark question split into three five-mark questions, or a 30-mark question split into three smaller questions and one larger discussion question that builds on the points you made in the earlier questions, so you know you don't need to include those earlier points in the bigger question.

They are a much better way of testing knowledge, in my opinion. Plus, with the bigger essay questions that are just by themselves (i.e. 20+ marks, usually one bitch of a case study in my exams) it's very, VERY hard to know where the marks are going to come from, which is irritating when the question itself isn't all that clear.

I mean, you're expected (well, I am) to have a good, clear structure for essays, but marks aren't awarded for defining key concepts before you apply them to situations. But if you don't write the things out, then the essay just becomes a complete mess. But writing them out is a waste of time, and you could better spend that time writing out something else, something which will actually get you marks. Not knowing what you're not getting marks for is the biggest issue I have with essay questions.

I quite like multiple choice questions, because you can just make an educated guess if you're not sure. My course has switched from almost pure numerical papers to more theoretical business plans and concepts, which is quite aggravating. An MCQ exam is pretty much a giveaway, really...shame there aren't more of them

 

[Eight]

Back in GCSE, I loved these questions, hell, I got A grades in them. But I have to be in the mood for it, if I go into the question tired, hungry, or just overall feeling naff, shitness and dribble will be written.

Structure can be the most annoying part about them essays too, that always requires the most practise imo, more than the actual subject xD

I don't hate them completely, even now, I think it's just me missing the variety after the past 2 years in college only being essay questions.

 

[Linnaete]

If you'd have asked me this question a couple of years ago (in the midst of my GCSE examination preparations), I would have certainly gone for the more straight forward and short insert-own-knowledge or yes-or-no questions because as a GCSE student, essays are never supposed to be anything but intimidating things created by examiners to scare you. xD

However if you ask me this now, after a good year and a half of A-Level studies and counting, I would certainly choose the essay questions now. All four of my subjects (English Language arguably has little in the way of actual essays, but length-wise it does also demand a lot of writing from candidates as well) are heavily essay and analysis dominated in general, and I've learnt to actually tackle these kind of questions rather well, particularly if they are on topics that I am particularly interested in and know enough of. I do suppose that there is a problematic factor with essay questions at times. If you for example end up with an absolute turd of a question that you have to answer for - say, 28-32 marks - it's not really something you can't just leave aside for later like in maths.

Luckily this is helped by the fact that I get a choice of essay questions to go for in exams. It may be a miniscule choice, but it's a choice nonetheless and if I find trouble with all of them, chances are it's probably my own fault for having not studied much on the topic beforehand then. I often do love essay questions because of the arguments that I have to craft into them, forming my own opinions without having to worry about cramming in every bit of contextual knowledge at all. I do find this a lot more interesting than in other subjects and in the GCSE exams where you're merely just regurgitating general knowledge with few chances of actually applying them much. On the other hand though, I do struggle with keeping time on essays. I often run out of time or just spend too long interpreting what a question's wording is on about. Given the choice, I would certainly avoid questions that are too obscurely worded in fear of stepping into completely irrelevant territory out of misintepretation. That would be awful if there were about 28-32 marks at stake.

 

[Martel]

I tend to blag my way through questions now when I can't be bothered or only have a vague idea of what I'm talking about. The "I'll just write down absolutely everything I know that has a vague connection with this subject!" strategy actually does work...provided you know a reasonable amount about the subject. xD

I hate case studies. In one my exams last year I was given a case study about a company and told to advise them, but the question was split up into multiple parts. Towards the end I started repeating myself

 

[Yaoi Master Gavin]

Essay Questions....Screw 'em.

And its not the topic or anything like that. It's because it's timed. I hate being timed. I can never get down all I want to say most of the time.

That being said, I don't mind most essay topics. I can write on a lot of things but theres always more to write when I actually care about it.

 

[Valvalis]

Essay Questions....Screw 'em.

And its not the topic or anything like that. It's because it's timed. I hate being timed. I can never get down all I want to say most of the time.

I'm with you on this one. I don't think I EVER finished an essay test completely, I always sat there through the bell trying to scribble some last closing sentence on for the last question, and being prodded along by the teachers who wanted to go to lunch

If I know the subject in and out, I'm great with essay questions, and I have written so many essays now that I know the formula, I can churn them out like it's nothing. However, the lowest grade I ever got on a test was an essay test on Roman history in college, because two or three of the questions were about subjects I barely knew about, were only briefly mentioned in the lectures, and the teacher was a hard-ass grader. So even though I got A's and B's in the rest of this class, I got a D- on this test It was awful.

I definitely prefer multiple choice if I'm not a genius on the subject; however, the questions with more than one correct answer, where they say just "choose the BEST answer," can go and kiss my ass in front of Times Square That shit is nonsense, because my opinion of "best" is almost always vastly different from theirs.