The current post-apartheid system of education in South Africa requires students to be critical thinkers. Education institutions utilise a variety of assessment strategies; peer assessment, self-assessment, and group assessment are some of the formative assessments that are crucial in the promotion of students. This article reports on the findings of a qualitative study conducted at a South African higher education institution where the emphasis was on the open book examination as an alternative form of assessment. The research was conducted among 32 teacher-learners who were enrolled in a two year part-time (teacher education) distance programme. Five of the teacher-learners' facilitators were part of the sample. The majority of participants concurred that the open book examinations have a number of advantages. One advantage is that this model helps students in allaying anxiety usually associated with closed book examinations. However, there are few challenges posed by this form of assessment, as some current students simply reproduce extracts from the texts in their examination books without any critical interpretation. When properly applied, the open book examination presents an effective assessment model. (Contains 1 figure.)