Short answer exam writing advice

In my classes these days, instead of essay answers, I ask students to write several short answers instead. The questions I ask are designed to be answered in two to five well planned sentences. I insist that before writing anything, students sit and think a while, making a brief list. Only after that list is completed should they think about composing the answer.

Why? Because we live in the age of Twitter, in the age of four-second sound bites. Have you ever seen a long blogpost and groaned? Few people have the time or the inclination to read long essays anymore.

So, am I doing my students a favor by insisting that they think carefully and then write concisely? I think so.

Here is a sample question (taken from my Roosevelt to Reagan course material) with a sample of how I expect students to tackle such a question.

Question: Assume that you are on a debate team. The topic is “Resolved: that the Cold War was not inevitable. You are to argue the positive, that it was not inevitable. What factors would you include in your argument? [no need for lengthy explanations: just list the factors you would use to argue that the Cold War was not necessarily inevitable.]

There’s the question. Now here’s an example of how you might want to do a quick list during your thinking time. [this is by no means a complete list, but shows how you would start doing your thinking and planning before writing your two to five sentence answer.]

A. Had been allies
B. Americans should have understood Soviet need for security
          25 mil dead
          Russia invaded
C. Overwrought intelligence
          Nitze
          Doolittle Report
D. Leaders exaggerated dangers
         Khrushchev
                Truman, Ike, Kennedy

Hint: While making this list, I thought of item C last. So, it was on my list last. Then, looking over the list, I realized that it would be better to bring this up sooner in my answer, so I moved it up. This is what I mean by thinking and planning out the answer before you start writing.