Post-Exam Wrappers: A Tool for Critical Reflection

Background:

Post-exam review sessions that reveal a completed exam to students can be time-consuming and ineffective. Additionally, the review may jeopardize exam integrity by exposing the individual items.

Method:

To promote critical reflection, an exam wrapper, without the return of a completed exam, was implemented. Students were encouraged to take deeper ownership of learning and be active in the process of exam review.

Results:

Most students strongly agreed or agreed that they adjusted their study strategies based on their self-reflection (68.5%) or on the instructor feedback (66.7%) provided through the wrapper. All faculty stated the process of using wrappers was much more or more valuable and efficient, compared to prior post-exam feedback methods.

Conclusion:

Using an exam wrapper as a stand-alone, post-exam debrief, students assume a more proactive role by reflecting on individual exam preparation and learning strategies without the return of a completed exam. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(X):XXX–XXX.]