A take-home exam is a very effective tool for assessing students' analytic thinking, reasoning and interpreting. Moreover, it allows to focus on the ability to question one's own beliefs and encourages students to open up to perspectives different from their own. This form of assessment gives students a reasonable amount of freedom to choose where and when they want to complete a take-home assignment. However, it is important to consider, and prepare for, the pitfalls associated with this type of examination.

This page contains all the information you will need to develop, use and evaluate your own take-home exams. First, we will give you the three most important tips to remember when opting for take-home exams in your courses. Additionally, we provide tips to ensure good practice, and teach you how to avoid pitfalls associated with this type of examination.
At te bottom of the page you will find more in-depth information about take-home exams, other forms of assessment, a list of valuable resources and some examples of take-home exams.

The way to do this #1:
Formulate a specific question or dilemma in which the student can formulate his own argumentation based on sources they may consult.

The way to do this #2:
Formulate generic criteria with which the answer must comply. On this basis, develop a rubric with four to five possible answer levels.

The way to do this #3:
Use a plagiarism check.

Preparing for a take-home exam

Pitfalls

The take-home exam is not in line with the learning objectives and activities. This could happen when the course (structure/literature) is fragmented and ineffective, when students spend time on activities that do not result in the intended outcomes, or when feedback is not a part of the course. A take-home exam should always be an important part of the course, that provides a teacher with insight in the learning outcomes.
Communication about the take-home exam is key. If a teacher's instruction is insufficient and ambiguous, it can cause stress and an incorrect interpretation of the assessment by students.
Every teacher use there own criteria to grade a take-home assessment, which is unreliable. It is therefore important to create a grading form together with a colleague to score the examinations.

Tips to ensure good practice:

Make clear agreements about the practical course of the take-home exam.
Limit the number of assignments and formulate them unambiguously.
Discuss the evaluation criteria with the students beforehand.
Mention explicitly that cooperation with fellow students is positive, but that in their solution, the students have to demonstrate their personal processing of the whole.

There are many benefits of a take-home exam, but there are disadvantages as well. If you want to know more about these pros and cons, click on the buttons below to open a file with the pros and cons of take-home exams.

LSE Take-home exam pros and cons VU Take-home exam pros and cons

Teacher story

James is an experienced teacher, who has developed a take-home exam for the second semester of the bachelor programme of Public Health. "Initially I considered using a case study, but I decided I wanted my final exam to be grounded in real-life." In this take-home exam, students had to watch a documentary that dealt with the same topics as those discussed in the course. Subsequently, they had to describe which factors and risks were related to the topics 'self-reliance' and 'health risks'. Based on this analysis, they wrote a proposal on how to improve a person's self-reliance. Below you can find some of the students' reactions to this particular take-home exam:

"The take-home exam challenges me to try to really understand the situation, and come up with the best advice possible."

"The exam tested my knowledge of the subject while linking it to practice at the same time. I really enjoyed it."

"I'm glad this test really allowed for me to show what I was personally capable of."

"The take-home exam allowed me to complete the test at my own pace."

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Canvas Assignment

A take-home exam is a form of assessment that the students can write at a location of their choice, it is non-proctored, and the students have several days to complete it. Unfortunately, these advantages for students can result in cheating.
The online tool, Canvas Assignment can prevent students from using someone else’s text without attribution, because of the plagiarism checker. Below you can learn more about this tool.