Types of exam questions
Essay-style responses
These should be relatively detailed. They should contain an introduction, main body and a conclusion as you would in an essay for course work:
- Introduction: scene setting, e.g. approach, model you’re going to use and why; how you’re going to answer the question
- Main section: explore, analyse, synthesise and evaluate
- Conclusion: draw together key issues to form a supported conclusion that comes from the points discussed (e.g. ‘Company X should avoid entering market Z due to the current high entry barriers as shown in the Five Forces analysis…’ )
- Have a clear argument/perspective
- Is written clearly and to the point
- Meets the criteria
- Is critical and analytical
- Shows evidence of deep thought, not just regurgitating lectures
- Provides reasons based on evidence
- It makes sense, is grammatically correct and spelling errors are minimal
- Shows a good grasp of the subject discipline
- Answers the precise question(s) set
- Includes only relevant material
- Is well structured
- Demonstrates an understanding of key concepts
Short answer responses
- Need to be succinct
- Short paragraphs/extended bullet points
- For example, bullet points could be used to explain PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social & Cultural, Technological, Legal, Environmental) factors or key elements of a model (such as Porter’s Five Forces)
Multiple choice questions
They usually follow a pattern: one correct answer, a close (but wrong) answer, one or two answers near topic, an answer far removed from topic (sometimes an ‘all of the above’ option)
The aim is to check understanding of key concepts and make basic links, therefore you need to know the subject well to answer them.
Use reasoning if the answer isn’t immediately obvious to you.
Multiple choice strategy
- Read all the questions first
- Answer the ones you are sure of
- Look at the ones you’re not sure of: compare questions and possible answers – look for links and similarities (rephrase to True/False question?)
- Only guess as a last resort if there’s no penalty for a wrong answer
- Check your answers and that you’ve clearly indicated them