Short answer questions are just as good as essay questions in most courses. What i have found in and agree that there can be a lot of time wasted not only putting together essay questions, but also grading them. The other thing is that if an instructor is goingto ask students to underline their main words in their esay answers, then, it is more effective to create a short answer test.
I have found that essay tests can be intimidating and all around can be a big time wasting venture.