How to make a practice exam from lecture slides
Lecture slides are one of the best sources for a practice exam, because they show what your lecturer chose to put in front of you. If a topic got three slides, it probably matters. If a diagram appeared twice, expect to be asked about it. The problem is that slides are written to be presented, not to be tested on. This guide shows how to turn a deck of slides into an exam you can actually sit.
Practice testing works because answering a question forces you to retrieve the answer from memory, and retrieval strengthens learning more than rereading. The review of study techniques by Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated practice testing among the most useful techniques available to students. Slides are where that practice can start.
Step 1: know what your real exam looks like
Before writing a single question, find out the format. Check the module handbook, past papers and any marking criteria:
- Question types: multiple choice, short answer, calculations, essays, problem or case questions.
- Length: how many questions, how much time, and how much choice.
- Rules: closed book or open book, formula sheet or data book.
A practice exam only helps if it practises the kind of thinking the real one demands. If the exam is essays, a deck of definitions will not prepare you.
Step 2: mark up the slides
Go through the deck once with three questions in mind:
- What is emphasised? Titles, repeated terms, slides with worked examples, anything the lecturer said "will come up".
- What connects? Causes and effects, steps in a process, comparisons between two models.
- What is only on the slide as a picture? Diagrams, graphs and tables often hide the hardest questions.
Highlight one or two testable ideas per slide. Skip title slides, reading lists and housekeeping.
Step 3: turn each idea into a question
Use the question types your exam uses, and aim above simple recall wherever you can.
| Slide says | Weak question | Better question |
|---|---|---|
| "Supply curve shifts right when input costs fall" | What happens when input costs fall? | A drought raises wheat prices. Explain what happens to the supply of bread and why. |
| Diagram of the cardiac cycle | Label the diagram. | Describe what happens to the pressure in the left ventricle as the aortic valve opens. |
| "Three types of contract terms" | List the three types. | A clause in a contract is broken. How would a court decide which type of term it is, and why does it matter? |
Some practical rules:
- Write the question so it can be answered before seeing any options. That makes multiple-choice questions test understanding, not recognition.
- Make distractors plausible. Wrong options should be mistakes a real student could make, such as confusing two similar terms.
- Mix in "why" and "what if" questions. They are closer to what exams reward.
- For calculations, change the numbers. Use a worked example from the slides as a template and invent a new version.
Write a short answer key as you go: the answer, plus the slide number it came from.
Step 4: assemble the paper
For a single lecture, five to ten questions is enough. For a full paper, take questions from several lectures and mix the topics. Mixing feels harder than doing one topic at a time, but it practises the real exam skill of recognising which idea a question needs.
Match the real exam's balance. If 40% of the marks are for one essay, your practice paper needs an essay question too.
Step 5: sit it like the real thing
Leave a few days between writing and sitting the paper. Then:
- Close your notes and slides.
- Set a timer for the real exam's time per question.
- Answer everything, even when unsure. A wrong answer you can learn from is more useful than a blank.
Step 6: mark honestly and act on the result
Mark against your answer key and, for written answers, against the module's marking criteria if you have them. Then keep a simple error log:
| Question | What went wrong | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 | Mixed up two similar terms | Make a flashcard comparing them |
| Q5 | Knew the idea, ran out of time | Practise timed answers |
| Q7 | Did not know the content | Re-study slides 12 to 15, then retest in three days |
The error log is the most valuable part of the exercise. Revisit the weak topics, then test them again a few days later with new questions.
Doing it faster with oosync
Writing good questions takes time, which is why many students stop after one paper. oosync can draft a practice exam from your own slides (PowerPoint or PDF) and readings: multiple-choice questions are marked instantly, and written answers get AI feedback with an estimated band, never a fake grade. You can send the topics you got wrong straight to your flashcards. See the practice exam generator for how it works.
Two honest caveats. First, generated questions are a draft: check them against the slides and delete anything that would not be on your exam. Second, an AI-marked band is a guide to where to focus, not a prediction of your result. Your lecturer's marking scheme decides your grade.
For a deeper look at writing and marking your own questions, read how to make practice exams from your own notes.
Questions
How many questions should a practice exam from one lecture have?
For a single one-hour lecture, five to ten questions is usually enough to cover the main ideas. For a full practice paper, match the number and type of questions in your real exam and draw them from several lectures, so you practise switching between topics.
Can I make a practice exam if the slides only have bullet points?
Yes. Each bullet is a prompt for a question: ask why it is true, how it works, or how it connects to the bullet before it. If you cannot answer your own question from the slides, that is a sign to check the recording, the reading or your notes, which is useful revision in itself.
Should I write the answers at the same time as the questions?
Write a short answer key, but sit the exam a few days later, not straight away. Answering immediately mostly tests short-term memory. A gap of a few days gives a truer picture of what you will remember on exam day.
Can AI write the practice exam for me?
It can draft questions from your slides quickly, which saves time, but check every question against the slides and your lecturer's emphasis. Delete anything trivial and rewrite anything that tests recognition rather than understanding. A generated mark for written answers is an estimate, not a grade.