Shiksha Opinion: Are open book exams better than traditional exams?

The first-time I experienced open book exam I was in my post-graduation. The professor walked into the classroom and handed us a question paper a week before the exam. “This is your final exam,” he said, and handed us the paper.

We had one week to research on the given topic from any source in the world and produce an answer that represented my opinion on the question. We were also allowed to carry reference material on the final exam writing day.  

I was so happy. I thought I had nailed it. I mean what could be easier than copying stuff from books and twisting it with your own words. I referred to two-three books, a few websites, marked the points I wanted to present and then spent a carefree week. On the day of the exam, I copied the answers from the book, twisted them in my own words and, lo and behold, it was over.

And then when the marks came, I had received a C grade! Stunned, I walked up to the professor and asked what was wrong. He said, “The idea of an open book exam is to help you think on your own and express your own opinion. Not of those people you read. What’s your perspective on it?”

Coming from a background, where answers were to be memorised and then reproduced in a time-bound session called examination, it took me a while to grab the concept of open book exams. The results were definitely better.

Open book exams focus on the grass-root levels of teaching, of making a student understand the concepts and derive their own opinion on the subject. Students are compelled to think and analyse before answering. Rote learning doesn’t work.

Also, stress is a predominant factor in traditional exams. Recalling all that you studied throughout the year during a three-hour exam can be pretty taxing. Open book exams have no such requisites. Hence the students are more relaxed and focus on critical opinion formulation.

Also, in this age of internet and social media, traditional rote learning doesn’t really hold true. In our daily situation, we heavily rely on Google. While many consider it artificial intelligence, we cannot ignore the fact that Google has all the answers. What Google doesn’t have is opinions. And students need to develop their own opinions.

Even at a junior level, schools and education boards are now adapting experiential learning. Children are being introduced the concepts of colour and simple sentence formation to express thoughts, way before they are taught the written alphabet and numbers.

All that said and done, we cannot completely discard the traditional examination approach. A student needs to know the basic IQ facts of life such as static general knowledge (important historic facts) or traffic rules etc. Also, for many subjects such as mathematics, one has to remember the concepts, theorems to solve the problems.

While open book exam fosters independent thinking and problem solving attitude, it is more relevant for the study of social sciences, liberal arts and management courses (case studies). In many mathematics and science based subjects, the pupil does need to remember the basic concepts, before taking practical exams.

The exam needs to be used selectively during the formative years of a student. But once, the student comes in contact with analytic topics in life, the exam should be used to foster independent views.