I don’t know if it’s still the case, but when I was in school for non-exam (i.e. timed) essays, they were split into outlines and drafts, and the drafts were individually graded as a portion of the entire essay grade, so there was a way to gauge the process rather than simply the final submission.

I always found that process frustrating, however, because English was easily my best subject and the teacher would get upset if I turned in a 2nd draft that was identical to the first because I was already basically there. Now that I’m older, I understand the reason for why the teacher structured the lessons in such a way.

I also think that essays in general are a much better metric for measuring true understanding of a topic, at least compared to multiple choice.