ABSTRACT Studies have shown that physical science students' understanding of concepts, and relations between concepts, is often less than would be expected from the assessment results they achieve. Explanations for the difference include the widespread use in examinations of ‘problems’ which, given sufficient rehearsal, become little more than exercises. Many of these examinations containing exercises are also thought to encourage surface approaches to learning, leading to lower quality learning outcomes. In this study we compare students' performances in an alternative assessment method — creativity exercises — with their results in concept mapping and traditional examination exercises. Student performance in all three methods was found to correlate positively with a deep study strategy, while low correlations between the three methods suggest that they may test three different aspects of chemistry knowledge. If used together these methods may encourage a deeper approach to learning, contribute to a grea...