9.10 - Answering the Question - Command Words
Why the wording of the question matters
- Command words tell you what a question is actually asking you to do.
- SQA lists what each command word requires at the front of the marking instructions - it's not a secret and it doesn't change from year to year.
- The same biology, written the wrong way round, does not answer the question asked - correct biology in the wrong form still scores nothing.
The same situation, two command words
Take one situation - an enzyme working faster as the temperature rises - and two questions about it:
Describe what happens to the rate of reaction as the temperature rises from 10 °C to 40 °C.
Explain what happens to the rate of reaction as the temperature rises from 10 °C to 40 °C.
The two need different answers:
- Describe - Says what happens: the rate of reaction increases.
- Explain - Gives the reason: the enzyme and substrate molecules move faster at higher temperatures, so they collide more often and more enzyme-substrate complexes form.
A student who writes the describe answer to the explain question has written correct biology but has not answered the question.
Command words tell you what the answer must do
Each command word asks for something specific. Learn what each one demands and you stop losing marks on answers you actually knew.
| Command word | What you have to do |
|---|---|
| Identify, name, give, state | Answer briefly - a word or short phrase. No explanation wanted. |
| Describe | State what happens or what something is like. More than one word, but no reasons. |
| Explain | Give the reason - relate cause and effect, or make the relationship between things clear. |
| Compare | Give the similarities, differences, or both, between the things examined. Write about both, not just one. |
| Calculate | Work out a number from the facts and figures given, and give it with its unit. |
| Predict | Say what is likely to happen, based on the information you've been given. |
| Suggest | Apply what you know to a situation you've not met before. More than one answer may be accepted. |
| Complete | Fill in the missing part of a table, diagram, or sentence. Only the missing part is wanted. |
| Using information from the passage | The answer is written in the passage or table in front of you - find it there rather than working it out. |
The contrasts that catch people out
- Describe vs explain - Describe says what; explain says why. If your answer contains no "because", it's probably a description.
- Predict vs suggest - Predict means read off a pattern already in the data (if the rate has risen at every temperature so far, predict what it does at the next one). Suggest means the situation is new, so there may be more than one sensible answer, and you're applying general biology rather than reading a trend.
- Compare - An answer that talks about only one of the two things hasn't compared them. Use words like "higher than", "lower than", or "the same as" so both appear in the sentence.
Common exam questions
Question 1
What is the difference between a "describe" question and an "explain" question?
Describe asks what happens; explain asks why it happens. An explain answer has to give a reason or link cause and effect, so if your answer contains no "because", it is probably only a description.
Question 2
A question asks you to "state" the variable that was changed. How long should the answer be?
A word or a short phrase, naming the variable. No explanation is wanted, so extra detail only costs you time.
Question 3
A question asks you to "compare" the rate of reaction at two temperatures, and a student writes only about the higher one. What is wrong?
A comparison has to mention both, saying how one relates to the other - higher than, faster than, or the same as. Writing about one of them on its own has not compared anything.
Question 4
A table shows the rate of an enzyme reaction rising at 10, 20, and 30 °C. One question asks you to "predict" the rate at 40 °C and another asks you to "suggest" why a second enzyme gave different results. How do the two answers differ?
Predict means reading the pattern already in the data forward, so the answer is a higher rate in line with the rise so far. Suggest means the situation is new, so you apply what you know about enzymes, and more than one sensible answer may be accepted.
Question 5
A question says "complete the table". What is wanted?
Only the missing part: the heading or the values that have been left blank. Do not redraw the whole table or add anything that was not asked for.
Question 6
A question begins "Using information from the passage". Where does the answer come from?
From the passage or table printed in the question, not from your own knowledge. The fact is already written down; the task is to find the right one.
Question 7
A question asks you to "suggest" a reason for an unexpected result. Does it have one right answer?
Not necessarily. Suggest means applying what you know to a situation you have not met before, and more than one sensible answer may be accepted.