1. What is it asking?
STEP 1: Highlight the verbs within the question. There is usually more than one.
- You need to know what each verb means - this clarifies what you're expected to write about and in how much detail
Describe |
1-2 sentences giving a brief overview of something (the general idea) |
Explain |
3-4 sentences giving reasons for how or why something happens
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Justify |
Give reasons for something (i.e. justify why you were late to class) |
Relate |
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Evaluate |
Make an assessment about something (i.e. evaluate my teaching performance) |
Compare & contrast |
Find similarities and differences between two or more things |
Analyze |
Examine something in more detail - pick it apart and talk about all the little bits |
Discuss |
Talk about topic in detail, take into account different ideas or the 'big picture' |
Biological ideas |
The biology you have learnt, the scientific words, the ideas, the science! |
Process |
A series of actions or steps taken (i.e. the process of mitosis - the steps involved) |
STEP THREE: Jot down your plan around the question
- draw lines from the circled words out to the empty space around the question - jot your ideas down quickly to get them out of your head and free up space for thinking
- The section below gives you an idea of how to do this!
2. How do I plan?
You mean WHY BOTHER PLANNING?
I hear you and now hear me.
I hear you and now hear me.
"But planning my answer is wasting valuable time when I could be writing my answer instead"
Yes I know, but trust me - this helps get all your ideas out of your head and onto the paper, freeing up 'thinking space' and helping you make connections between your ideas. Read my 4 reasons for planning and then decide for yourself.
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Reason number one
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Reason number two
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Reason number three
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Reason number four
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- It gets the ideas out of your head and onto the paper, which helps you concentrate and focus on what the question is actually asking, rather than trying to 'brain dump'!
- Without a plan, your brain is tense and you feel like if you don't write down what you're thinking right now then you'll forget to write it at all.
- This results in a messy answer that lacks cohesion and makes it harder for the marker to read and award good marks.
- Without a plan, your brain is tense and you feel like if you don't write down what you're thinking right now then you'll forget to write it at all.
- It helps you actually answer the question, because you'll be drawing lines from parts of the question and then writing ideas relevant to that part of the question.
- This helps you avoid waffling on about irrelevant things, which is easy to do without a plan!
- It's quite easy to read the question once and start writing, but then you forget what bits of the question are important to address.
- It's quite easy to read the question once and start writing, but then you forget what bits of the question are important to address.
- This helps you avoid waffling on about irrelevant things, which is easy to do without a plan!
- It helps you make links between your ideas, as you can draw lines between your ideas and cross out your ideas when you've written them down in your answer.
- Showing how ideas relate to each other is a higher-order thinking skill and you are more likely to get better marks if you can show apropriate links in your answer
- It helps you write a flowing answer that is ordered logically.
- Instead of writing ideas in your answer as soon as you think of them, you can number them off and write about them in that order.
- Remember your answer should be about the stem of the question, and including ideas mentioned in the bullet points. Your entire answer should not be addressing just the bullet points.
- Instead of writing ideas in your answer as soon as you think of them, you can number them off and write about them in that order.
You get better at planning the more you practice it.
You get faster the more you practice.
If you practice enough, you will be ready by the time exams come along!
You get faster the more you practice.
If you practice enough, you will be ready by the time exams come along!
3. What do I write?
Find the stem of the question and read it once more before writing your answer. Start off your answer with a sentence or two that relates to the stem of the question, then start addressing the bullet points.
In the below questions, the 'stem' of the question is highlighted in pink.
Here's an example of an intro sentence for the middle question
- All cells, except the gametes, undergo mitosis in order to divide and make more cells. This happens when new cells are required, such as for growth, repair or so that specific cells can carry out their specific role in the body.
THEN: Go through each bullet point, in order, and write what is required of you - use your plan to do this. Keep referring back to the stem of the question.
With a plan, you can actually do more than one bullet point at a time, if that's what the question allows. For example, for the yellow question, you could describe the overall process of photosynthesis, but as you mention each step you could stop and elaborate on it and in doing so, answering majority of the other bullet points. Use new paragraphs for each new idea you use. You'll be surprised how much your marks improve if your writing style is easy to read. Paragraphs work wonders!
When you answer a bullet point, write another sentence or two that links your paragraph back to the stem of the question. This helps make your answer more wholesome!
The only way you'll get good at this is by practicing. You can practice writing answers for exam questions at any time and hand them to me for feedback. You can also give them a go and look at the marking schedule and see how you went. If you hand them to me for feedback, I can help you improve your writing style which will help to improve your answers and your grades! |