How to write your own practice exam questions

Rereading your notes feels like studying. Writing a question you can't immediately answer, and then having to answer it, is studying. The gap between those two activities is most of the reason practice questions work better than rereading, and it's also why most students skip them — writing your own questions takes more upfront effort than reading the same page one more time. Try it free on iPhone if you'd rather start from an organized transcript and summary than a stack of loose notes.

Write questions right after each lecture, not the week before the exam

The best time to write a practice question about something is while you still remember why it mattered, not three weeks later when you're cramming. After each lecture or study session, go back through what was covered and write down two or three questions you think could show up on an exam. You don't need a polished test bank yet, just a running list. If you're working from notes taken during a fast lecture, this is also when gaps show up — a half-finished sentence or a term you didn't catch is a sign you need the full recording or transcript, not just what you managed to scribble down. A second pass through the material, with the lecture's full transcript open next to your notes, catches more of these gaps than trying to remember them later.

Write questions at three different levels, not just one

A set of practice questions that are all "define this term" will leave you underprepared for an exam that also asks you to apply or compare things. Split your questions into three rough levels: recall (can you state the definition or the fact), application (can you use it in a new example the professor didn't give), and comparison or analysis (how does this idea relate to, or differ from, another one from the course). Aim for a mix — a handful of recall questions to check you have the basics, and a smaller number of application or comparison questions, since those are usually the ones that catch people on the actual exam.

Match the format of the real exam

A practice question is most useful when it's shaped like the real thing. If the exam is multiple choice, write multiple choice questions with plausible wrong answers, not just open-ended prompts. If it's short answer or essay, write out full questions and actually answer them in writing, in your own words, under a time limit close to what you'll get on the day, rather than only thinking through the answer in your head. Skipping the writing step is tempting, but it's also where you find out whether you can actually produce the answer, not just recognize it when you see it. a built-in quiz feature works the same way, turning your own material into multiple-choice and short-answer questions instead of flashcards alone.

Start from an accurate transcript, not a guess at what was said

Good practice questions depend on getting the material right in the first place. If a professor spent five minutes on a worked example and your notes only captured the final answer, any question you write about it will be shallower than it should be. If your school's recording rules allow it, recording the lecture and turning it into a full transcript and summary means you're writing questions from what was actually said, not from a partial, rushed version of it. That gives you the full material to write from, not just the parts you managed to write down live. Free to download on iPhone; an account is needed for transcription, and the free plan covers 10 minutes of recording a month.

Build a running bank and review it on a schedule, not all at once

Keep your questions in one place, a document, a stack of cards, or a quiz built from your own notes, and add to it after every class instead of writing a hundred questions the night before the exam. Spreading the writing out over the semester means you're reviewing older material while it's still fresh enough to catch mistakes, and testing yourself with questions you wrote weeks ago is a more honest check of what you've actually retained than questions you just wrote five minutes ago.

Use wrong answers to find out what to restudy

The point of a practice question isn't the score, it's finding out what you don't actually know yet. When you get one wrong, or can't answer it at all, that's useful information — it tells you exactly which section of your notes or transcript to go back to, instead of rereading everything equally. Keep a short list of the topics your practice questions keep catching you on, and review that list more often than the rest.

A simple checklist for exam week

• Write two or three questions after each lecture, not just before the exam.
• Mix recall, application and comparison questions instead of only definitions.
• Write the questions in the real exam's format, and answer them in writing.
• Work from a full transcript or recording when your notes have gaps (check your school's recording rules first).
• Review your question bank on a schedule, and keep a running list of what you keep getting wrong.

Frequently asked questions

How many practice questions should I write per lecture?

Two or three is enough to keep up with, done consistently after every class. A large batch written once, right before the exam, is harder to sustain and skips the spacing that makes the method work in the first place.

Should I write practice questions alone or with a study group?

Either works, but writing your own first, even roughly, forces you to engage with the material before seeing someone else's version of a question. Comparing questions afterward in a group is a good second step, not a replacement for the first one.

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