An essay exam requires knowledge of the relevant material and also of writing skills. If your instructor has provided possible essay questions in advance, focus your study on them. If you are provided only with the general subject areas or topics that will be covered, you need to begin your studying by formulating some possible essay questions. See Writing an In-Class Essay Exam.

How to formulate possible essay questions:

• Gather together all of the relevant study material (texts, notes, etc.).
• Look for major themes in this material. See Taking Notes in Class.
• Build your own possible questions around these themes.

FOR EXAMPLE: If the major theme of the exam is the reasons for the decline of the Roman empire,

• List all of the major reasons for the decline of Rome from your study materials (reasons might include civil war, military insubordination, cost of defending frontiers, declining agricultural production, "barbarian" invasions, heavy tax burdens on the peasantry, growth of a central bureaucracy, decline of the Senate, the cult of the emperor, the rise of Christianity, the rise of Islam).
• Assume that the exam essay question will most likely ask you to focus on one or more of these explanations.
• Compose your own possible essay questions based on your list of reasons: "In what ways did the cult of the emperor weaken the Roman empire? Give examples. "Was Christianity a major force in weakening the empire? Explain your answer."
• Avoid composing questions that are too broad. Example: "Describe every factor that led to the fall of the empire." This is not the type of question that will ever appear on an exam.
• Don't compose questions that are too narrow. Example: "How many slaves were there in the empire?"
• Be prepared to write about each of the major explanations and their relations to one another.

This is a lot of work, but an essay exam is usually a significant portion of your grade, and you must be prepared.

Next: Writing an In-Class Essay Exam