Student strategies when taking open-ended test questions

Assessments are common in undergraduate classrooms, with formats including multiple-choice and open-ended (in which the students must generate their own answers) questions. While much is known about the strategies that students use when taking multiple-choice questions, there has yet to be a study evaluating the strategies that students employ during open-ended test questions. The current study used phenomenography and an open-ended online survey to solicit strategies from 416 students in an upper division reproductive physiology class across two quarters. Fifteen different categories of student strategy were categorized across four broad themes: formulating an answer, writing a response, time management, and question details. A detailed account of each of the 15 categories is presented along with an assessment of how each category is both unique and similar to other categories. The results of the current study could have important implications for teaching, as several of the strategies reported by students are likely not in line with those desired by course instructors.