Command words: short-answer questions - Intro

Picture two questions printed under the same graph. The first one says describe. The second one says explain. Describe wants what the graph shows, with its figures. Explain wants the reasons behind it. That first word is the command word. It decides what earns the marks. This chapter takes the short-answer command words one at a time. The long-answer words, like assess, have a chapter of their own.

Here is the whole chapter. It is not a ladder, because each video takes one command word or a small family of them. So you can watch the ones your questions use, in any order.

First comes Describe, analyse, evaluate: the three ways to write a geography answer. It is the map for the rest, because every command word falls into one of those three kinds of writing. Not every course prints the three, but they help on any paper. If command words are new to you, start with this one. The slip there is describing what was done when the question asks how good it was. Identify, state, name, give and define: short, exact answers covers the shortest answers on the paper. Writing several sentences where one exact answer would do is the slip there. Those extra lines cost time you need later. Describe and outline: characteristics, not reasons is about what something is like. Outline is a word only some courses print. Plenty of students explain a pattern when the question only asks them to describe it. If a graph question keeps pulling reasons out of you, go here. Explain questions: giving reasons how and why turns each reason into a linked chain. A common slip there is saying two things are connected without ever saying how. Suggest questions: reasoned ideas for a situation you have not met leans on the explain video. If your reasons are still shaky, watch that one first. Courses read the word suggest a little differently, and the video shows each reading. Watch for a suggestion the figure does not show, when the question says to use it. Compare questions: similarities and differences leans on describe in the same way. Describing each place in turn, with no comparison between them, is where answers go wrong. Calculate, plot, draw, complete and predict: the data command words is where the numbers live. Not every course uses all five words, but every course asks for some of them. If a table or a graph is what brought you here, go straight to it. One slip there is taking a range from the first and last figures in a table. Every video can be searched by its name or its code. The quickest way is the scholafly.com website, which indexes every video in every subject. If you are starting from nothing, press the three ways to write a geography answer first.

Next in the chapter is Describe, analyse, evaluate: the three ways to write a geography answer. Hopefully that's next in your feed, but if not, search for ScholaFly G E oh one, oh one.

Every other video is on scholafly.com too, easy to search by video code or by keyword. Whatever you're revising, go there and have a look, or, watch the next video.