Take-home exams

Learn about take-home exams, including how to prepare and tips for during and after the exam.

What are take-home exams?

Take-home exams are assessments that you complete by yourself with access to:

  • All of your subject notes
  • Course readings
  • Online resources.

In most cases, you have between 48 hours and a few days to complete a take-home exam. However, they are not timed. This means you can decide how you structure your time and how long you will spend on the task.

A take-home exam could be a set of questions, a quiz, an essay, or another task relevant to your discipline.

Take-home exams typically test your ability to solve problems, analyse and synthesise information, and draw conclusions based on evidence. They often ask you to apply your knowledge to different real-world, professional scenarios.

How to study for a take-home exam

Tip: For general strategies to help you study for any type of exam, visit Exam revision.

The following tips are particularly relevant for take-home exams.

Understand the task instructions

Check the LMS for instructions in the lead up to the exam. Finding out as much as you can about the format and requirements of the exam beforehand. This will allow you to spend the exam time focusing on the task.

Essential instructions to look out for include:

  • Word or page count
  • Requirements regarding sources (eg how many sources are required? Are you limited using subject readings or are you expected to conduct your own research?)
  • Requirements regarding referencing (eg which referencing style you should use)
  • Whether GenAI tools are authorised in the exam. If so, are there specific tools or uses that are permitted and declaration requirements?

Review the subject content

Not knowing what questions you’ll be asked in an exam can feel daunting, but remember that your take-home exam is likely to focus on the main topics and key debates covered in your subject. Review your readings, lecture slides, tutorial discussion topics, and your own notes. Consider writing brief summaries of key concepts and readings to enhance your understanding of the material.

Organise your materials

Make sure any resources you will use are well-organised, for example by topic or theme. You may like to use folders (digital or physical), colour-coding, or post-it notes to help you do this. If you can easily locate similar information across different sources, you won’t spend valuable time during the exam looking through your notes for it.

Get set up for a take-home exam

Keep in mind these practical tips to help you do your best ahead of the exam.

Clear your schedule

Plan to focus on your take-home exam for the duration of the assessment time. This doesn’t mean working solidly for the entire period – it’s still important to take breaks! It does mean clearing your schedule as much as possible so that you aren’t juggling too many tasks.

Choose a suitable location

Plan to complete your exam in a quiet location where you are unlikely to be distracted. For some students, this will be at home. For others, it may be in another location, such as a bookable study space on campus. If you choose a location other than home, make sure you include any travel time when planning how long you'll spend completing the exam.

Make sure your internet connection in this location is stable and reliable. This will help things go smoothly when its time to submit.

Set up your space

Unlike an official exam venue, you are not restricted to a single table and chair during a take-home exam. Consider which parts of your environment you can customise to help you focus. Think about lighting, seating, or background music. You might even put visual reminders on the wall to remind you of important concepts or key resources.

Get used to the online exam platform

Some subjects provide a practice exam that you can explore in the LMS ahead of the exam. Use this to familiarise yourself with the online platform and how to navigate its features on your device.

Other tips include:

During the exam

Be strategic in the way you approach the task and use the allocated time.

Break the task down

Once you receive your exam task, break it down into smaller tasks and decide when and for how long you will work on each. For example, imagine you have 48 hours to write a take-home essay. You might plan to spend half a day researching, a day drafting, and half a day proofreading and editing (including breaks).

Schedule breaks

It is not realistic or desirable to work on your exam for the entire exam period. Make sure you schedule regular breaks for movement, eating, and doing things you find enjoyable. It is also important to get enough sleep: you will be better placed to focus on the exam if you are well-rested during the exam period.

After the exam

Tip: Take a break, and then reflect
Give yourself some space to relax, decompress and look after your wellbeing. When you are ready, reflect on your revision, preparation and performance in the exam. Make a note of what went well, as well as what you might have done differently. Use these reflections to guide your future learning and exam preparation.

Academic Integrity in take-home exams

All students at the University of Melbourne are responsible for upholding academic integrity in all their scholarly work. This means that all work you submit for assessment must represent your own original ideas and work.

If you use GenAI tools to assist in preparing or completing your exam, it is your responsibility to do so ethically, responsibly and in alignment with University of Melbourne policy.

To find out more about appropriate scholarly conduct and practices in online assessment, including use of GenAI, visit the Academic Integrity website.

Final tip

While the duration of a take-home exam can seem generous, it’s not usually enough time to learn the content and prepare a response. Give yourself enough time to prepare, so that you can spend the exam time crafting a clear, and thorough response.