Meaning & use
exam paper
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Meanings
nouncountable
The printed sheets of questions that students are given to answer during a formal examination.
Grammar: Has a plural: two exam papers; often used with turn over or hand out.
Patterns
- sit an exam paper
- an exam paper on something
Please do not turn over your exam paper until the bell rings.
The history exam paper had three essay questions and a source analysis.
Teachers spent the weekend writing the final exam paper for Year 11.
nouncountable
The written answers a student produces in an examination, which a teacher or examiner then marks.
Grammar: Often the object of mark or grade: she marked fifty exam papers.
Patterns
- mark an exam paper
- hand in an exam paper
She had to mark sixty exam papers before the end of the week.
My exam paper came back covered in red corrections.
Each exam paper is read by two examiners to keep the grading fair.
Word forms
| plural | exam papers |
|---|
Common combinations
- sit an exam paper
- Students sit the first exam paper on Monday morning.
- mark exam papers
- I spent the whole evening marking exam papers.
- past exam papers
- Working through past exam papers is a good way to revise.
- hand in your exam paper
- Hand in your exam paper at the front when time is up.
- set an exam paper
- The department sets a new exam paper every year.
Synonyms and how they differ
- test
- Test is shorter and more general, and can be a quick classroom quiz, whereas an exam paper suggests a formal, scheduled examination.
- question paper
- Question paper focuses only on the sheet of questions, while exam paper can also mean the student's answers.
- script
- Script, in British use, means only the student's written answers, not the questions.
Word family
Commonly confused: exam paper or exam paper?
exam paper vs exam paper
Do not confuse it with research paper or term paper, which are essays written over time rather than answered under timed conditions.
Practice
After the exam, the teacher collected every ___ and took them to the staffroom to be marked.
Choose one answer.
An exam paper holds a student's answers and is marked afterwards. A research paper is not written in an exam, and the others do not fit the situation.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “exam paper”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.