Exam questions… What exactly are they asking you to do? The trick is to know the range of command words…
Students we tutor at 121 Home Tutors in Manchester are ALWAYS saying that they get themselves into a right old pickle as they are not sure HOW to answer exam questions.
Obviously there are a raft of subject-specific questions that would take yonks to explore, but in general it’s true to say that if you understand subject command words, you are more likely to know what questions are asking of you.
Exams are not all plain sailing, of course. But the truth is, if you know the lingo, you’ll answer questions quicker. Fact!
Typical Maths and Science command words are?
Science terms, for example, range from asking you to label to evaluate, predict to assess. It can be confusing at first!
Just look at the Maths ones...
Common Maths and Science command words often feature these:
- Describe – talk through a process or trend
- Outline – State information about…
- Suggest – Give possible causes for
- Calculate – work out a value, perhaps showing your working out
- Show – usually means to prove something is true/false, or show your step-by-step working out
- Explain – explain how you reached your answer, or give reasons for something
Knowing them can stop you from making costly mistakes.
Helpful Humanities
As for humanities such as History and English, again it’s wise to get to know subject-specific terminology.
In English:
- Describe usually means describe a scene or situation using a range of descriptive techniques
- Analyse usually means how does the writer present something – what techniques are used to do this
- Evaluate asks you to give a reasoned argument – to prove a statement, for example
- Compare usually asks you to find similarities and differences in writers’ attitudes, ideas, methods
- Summarise asks you to nail the clear ideas in a text without going into detail
Studying History? Here is a helpful guide to interpreting those pesky exam questions.
The power of command words
The truth is you’re always against the clock in any exam. Spend too long trying to work out the question, you’ll have less time for the answer.
The result? It reduces your ability to complete the exam paper with time left over to check answers.
Instead, by learning key exam terms, it will empower you to get to grips with any exam paper – even your least favourite subject.
Tuition transforms time management skills
If there’s one phrase us tutors hear year in year out, it’s ‘I ran out of time.’
We’d be sunning ourselves on a yacht in the South of France if we were paid £1 for every time we heard that little chestnut!!
Exam questions are all about following a system. Our tutors can help you understand that process and how to shine within the time. Call our experienced tutor team today for more information.
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Tags: command words, describe, evaluate, exam time management, maths, predict, Science