Command Words Made Easy: How To Understand Command Words In Exams

Sit! A simple command you may tell your dog to do and they will action your command. Unfortunately exam command words are not that simple and if students do not understand them a lot of marks can be lost through unforced errors! 

Many students, when they get their exam paper, they will immediately start writing as much as they can about the particular topic area. They are saying to the examiner “Look how much information I have remembered. Surely it’s worth full marks”.  

However, an examiner isn’t looking for how much information they have remembered and can regurgitate, they want students to apply their knowledge to different situations. Therefore students must firstly identify what the question is and the approach they should take.

Understanding Command Words In Exam Questions…

So how do you solve this problem? As teachers we would go to the exam board website and find the list of command words, display them around our classrooms and provide a handout for every student so that they can continually make reference to it. 

Is that the problem solved? No, as students need to decipher what each command word means, for example, evaluate is different to analyse, and would have a different answer due to a simple command word switch! 

Teachers need to practice exam question techniques and alter the command words to get students into the habit of working out what each command word means and how they would answer the question. 

How To Nail Exam Questions…

If only there was a website that could help teachers with this. A website that has been created especially to help students and teachers answer exam questions and formulate the perfect answer! Look no further, Answer Perfect is here and has multiple exam questions each with differing command words, let us take through what each command word means and how to break down questions and achieve top marks when you nail the exam question. 

Each exam board has different meanings to their command words, therefore every video, extended question, and mark scheme has been uniquely written and recorded by Answer Perfect to ensure that it meets exam board requirements so that students are given specific course guidance in order to achieve top marks. Download the AQA command words here.

Grab a FREE 21 day trial here and see how we guide students to break down the extended questions and structure the perfect answer. Don’t delay, get in touch today!