UC San Diego

When students have to generate their own responses, subsequent retention of information is greater than when students have to recognize a correct response, as is the case with multiple-choice questions (Kang, et al., 2007; McDaniel et al., 2007). While previous studies have looked into the strategies students use when preparing for a test (Hartwig, et al., 2012; Ross, et al., 2006) no studies have assessed the strategies that students use when taking the test itself. Through the use of a post exam survey, which asked students what strategies they used during free response exams, we investigated “what strategies do students use during open-ended exam questions?” In our treatment quarter we utilized an exam wrapper to see if strategies changed in response to metacognitive reflection. Next, we investigated if the change in student strategies affected student’s use of verbosity, which we defined as extraneous details that does not contribute to a student’s answer, when answering free response questions. We found that students report using a wide variety of strategies during free response exams. The strategies used by students change in response to the metacognitive reflection assignment, which led to a decrease of extraneous information in their answers. By investigating the strategies students used on free response exams as well as how student-employed meta-cognitive reflection may impact their use of certain strategies, we hoped to improve student’s communication of science.