Command words in GCSE papers, decoded

A pupil can revise. They can know the topic. The mark can still be five out of ten. When a GCSE paper comes back with marks lost across questions the pupil could talk about at the kitchen table, the problem is often not the subject. It is the instruction.

Think of a recipe card. One line says 'fold the flour into the egg whites'. Another says 'whisk the cream'. The ingredients are the same. The action is not. Do the wrong action and the dish fails even though nothing was missing from the bowl. Command words are the action lines in an exam question. They tell a pupil what to do with the knowledge they have.

Command words are taught less than content. A class may spend three lessons on enzymes and four minutes on the difference between 'describe' and 'explain'. Then the exam asks pupils to explain, and a description arrives. This guide decodes the common command words, shows where marks slip away, and gives a routine you can use at home without turning the kitchen table into a classroom.

What a command word does in a question

Most GCSE questions contain a topic and a command word, plus limits. 'Explain why the rate of reaction increases when the temperature rises' is a typical example. The topic is the rate of reaction. The command word is 'explain'. The limit is temperature.

The command word is the verb. It tells the pupil what kind of thinking the examiner wants to see. 'State' asks for a fact. 'Describe' asks for features. 'Explain' asks for a link between cause and effect. 'Evaluate' asks for a judgement. The mark scheme is built around that request.

Some instructions sit alongside the command word and are easy to miss: 'Using Source A', 'with reference to the graph', 'give two reasons', 'show your working'. These are limits, not command words, but they carry marks. A correct fact from memory may not count if the question says to use the graph; if it says 'with reference to Source A', the answer needs a quotation or a detail from that source. Two reasons joined by 'and' may count as one reason if they are really the same point.

The four families of command words

Command words cluster into four families. The family tells a pupil what shape the answer should take.

• Recall: state, give, identify, name, list. These ask for a fact or a short piece of information. One word or one sentence is often enough. A paragraph for a one-mark 'state' question is time lost from the rest of the paper.
• Description: describe, outline, summarise. These ask a pupil to say what is there, in order, with enough detail to show they can see the pattern. 'Describe' is not 'explain'. It names the features.
• Explanation: explain, suggest, analyse. These ask for a link. The answer needs a reason or a mechanism, often as a chain of steps. 'Suggest' applies knowledge to a new context. 'Analyse' breaks something into parts and shows how they relate.
• Judgement: evaluate, discuss, justify, compare, 'to what extent', 'how far'. These ask for a weighed view. A judgement needs evidence and criteria, then a conclusion that decides something.

The families are not a ladder. A question can combine them. 'Describe and explain' has two parts, and the marks are usually split. A high-mark question may ask a pupil to evaluate a statement using data, and that needs recall, description, explanation and judgement in one answer. The command word tells you which parts to use.

Describe and explain: the difference that costs marks

'Describe the effect of temperature on the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction' asks for a pattern. A pupil can write: 'As temperature rises, the rate increases up to an optimum, then falls.' That is a description. It is accurate. It names the trend. It does not say why.

'Explain why temperature affects the rate' needs a mechanism. The answer has to connect temperature to particle movement, collisions, enzyme active sites, and denaturation. A sentence such as 'Higher temperature gives particles more kinetic energy, so they collide more often and form more enzyme-substrate complexes' does the work. After the optimum, the explanation changes: 'The active site is denatured, so fewer substrate molecules can bind.' Those are explanations because they say why the pattern happens.

English papers use the same distinction. 'Describe the character's mood' can be answered with 'The character is anxious.' 'Explain how the writer creates the mood' needs method and effect. A stronger answer points to short sentences and a repeated verb, then says what that does to the reader. Naming the method is not enough; the explanation says how it shapes the reader's sense of the character.

A ten-second test

Can the pupil put 'because' between two halves of the answer? If not, it may still be a description. The word itself matters less than the link. 'So' and 'therefore' can do the same job. A pupil who can recite the reactivity series but writes a paragraph about sodium without once saying why it behaves as it does has given the examiner knowledge, not an explanation, and the examiner will usually notice.

Analyse, suggest and apply: when the question moves to a new context

'Analyse' asks a pupil to take something apart and show how the pieces work together. In a science paper, that may mean reading a graph, identifying the trend, using figures from the graph, and explaining an anomaly. In English, it means looking at a quotation closely: the word choice, the connotations, the pattern across a paragraph, and the effect on the reader. In history, it means breaking down significance into causes and consequences, plus change over time.

'Suggest' is different from recall. It puts a pupil in an unfamiliar situation and asks them to apply what they know. 'Suggest why a plant in a shady garden has broader leaves than one in full sun' is not asking for a definition of photosynthesis. It is asking for a reasoned link: less light reaches the leaves, so the plant needs a larger surface area to capture enough light for photosynthesis. There may be more than one acceptable answer, but the reasoning has to come from the subject.

The common mistake is to answer 'suggest' with a memorised fact that does not fit the scenario. A pupil may know that leaves have stomata and write about stomata, even though the question is about light and leaf area. The examiner is looking for application, not a fact dump.

Evaluate, discuss and justify: how to build a judgement

Judgement words ask for more than an opinion. 'Evaluate' asks a pupil to weigh evidence and reach a conclusion against criteria. 'Discuss' asks for more than one side and a reasoned position. 'Justify' asks for reasons and evidence for a choice. Marks come from showing how the view was reached, not from having a strong view.

Take a source question: 'Evaluate how useful Source A is for an enquiry into living conditions in a Victorian city.' The criteria are usefulness, reliability, content, and provenance. A pupil who writes 'Source A is useful because it shows a street' has made a point. A pupil who writes 'Source A is useful for showing overcrowding because it lists the number of people in each room, but its reliability is limited because it was written by a landlord who wanted to present the housing as adequate' has weighed the source against the enquiry. The second answer uses criteria and reaches a judgement.

'Discuss' is not a list. 'Discuss the view that homework should be banned' needs a case for and a case against, then a position. 'Justify your answer' needs a reason that connects the evidence to the conclusion. The reason has to do work. 'I think this because I prefer it' is not a justification.

Conclusion or summary?

A summary repeats the points. A conclusion decides something. The last sentence of an evaluation should answer the question: how useful, how far, how significant, which side is stronger, and why. If the conclusion could be written before the evidence was read, it is probably an opinion, not a judgement.

Command words in maths

In maths, command words are precise and often carry method marks. 'Calculate' means do the arithmetic and show the steps. 'Show that' means the answer is already printed on the paper, so the marks are in the proof, not the final number. 'Prove' means use logical steps that work for all cases. A single example can disprove a general statement, but it cannot prove one.

'Estimate' is not a request for an exact answer. It usually means round the numbers sensibly and work with those, without a calculator. 'Hence' means use the previous part of the question. 'Hence or otherwise' gives a choice: use the previous part, or find another route. 'Give your answer to 2 decimal places' makes rounding part of the answer. A correct number with the wrong rounding can still lose a mark.

The most common loss is the answer-only habit. A pupil writes the final number and no working. In a 'show that' question, that habit is costly because the answer is given. In a multi-step calculation, method marks can be earned even when the final number slips. 'Describe the relationship' is another command word that catches pupils: it asks for a sentence about the pattern, not a calculation. 'As x increases, y increases at a steady rate' is a description. A single pair of coordinates is not.

Command words in science, English and humanities

Science

Science papers use 'describe', 'explain', 'compare', 'calculate', 'suggest' and 'evaluate' most often. 'Compare' needs both similarities and differences. Two separate descriptions, one after the other, do not count as a comparison unless the pupil says what is the same and what is different. 'Calculate' needs the right unit and the right number of significant figures. 'Evaluate' may ask a pupil to judge a method or a conclusion, not just describe the data.

English

English command words often hide the demand inside a longer instruction. 'Explain how the writer uses language to create tension' asks for method, quotation, effect, and a link back to the question. 'Analyse' asks for a closer look at word choices and patterns. 'Evaluate' asks for a judgement about how well something works, or how far a statement is true. 'Compare' asks for both texts in the same paragraph, not one paragraph on Text A and another on Text B with no bridge. Feature-spotting is the quiet trap here. 'The writer uses a metaphor' identifies a feature. It does not analyse it. The analysis explains what the metaphor suggests, how it connects to the rest of the paragraph, and why the writer might have chosen it. The command word 'analyse' is the signal to go further than naming.

Humanities

'Explain the significance' is not the same as 'describe the importance'. Significance needs criteria: impact at the time, lasting change, number of people affected, or the views of different groups. 'To what extent' and 'how far' ask for a judgement with a line, not a list of points on both sides. 'Compare' in geography or history needs similarities and differences, and a conclusion about which difference matters most.

How the mark scheme reads your answer

Mark schemes are published to show the type of credit available, not to make pupils guess. Some questions are marked point by point: each accurate point earns a mark. Others are marked by level: the examiner reads the whole answer and decides which level it reaches. In both cases, the command word tells the pupil what kind of credit is on offer.

In a point-based question, 'give two reasons' means two separate reasons. One reason with two clauses may only earn one mark. In a level-based question, a longer answer is not automatically stronger. A level 4 answer does more of the command word: it explains more fully, uses evidence more precisely, or reaches a judgement that is supported. A long description when the question asks for an evaluation will not move up the levels just because it fills the space.

Mark schemes often include 'indicative content'. That is a guide to possible answers, not a checklist that pupils must match word for word. A pupil can use a different example or a different explanation if it meets the command word. The command word is the stable part. The content can vary.

A five-step routine for the exam room

This routine takes about a minute to learn and a few seconds to use. It works for a two-mark question and a twelve-mark question, though the planning time changes.

• 1. Underline the command word and the limits. Circle 'explain', 'evaluate', 'compare', 'using the graph', 'two reasons'. The limits matter as much as the command word.
• 2. Name the type of thinking. Is this recall, description, explanation, or judgement? 'Suggest' means application. 'Discuss' means judgement with more than one side.
• 3. Count what the question asks for. Two reasons, one example, both similarities and differences, a conclusion. The number is part of the instruction.
• 4. Plan for thirty seconds. For an explanation, draw a short chain of cause and effect. For an evaluation, note the criteria and the judgement. For a comparison, make two columns.
• 5. Re-read the question after writing. Check the first line against the command word. If it says 'explain', the first line should not be a description. If it says 'evaluate', the last line should make a judgement.

A check you can do in ten seconds

Cover the answer. Read the command word again. Ask one question: did I do that verb? If the answer is 'compare', did you write about both? If it is 'justify', did you give a reason? If it is 'show that', did you show the steps? This check is quick, and it catches the slips that cost marks across a whole paper.

Timing matters too. A two-mark 'state' question should not get a paragraph. A six-mark 'evaluate' question should not get two lines. The mark tariff is a signal of depth. It is not a promise that more words earn more marks.

What parents can do at home

You do not need to know the syllabus to help with this. Ask your child to read the question aloud and tell you the command word. Then ask what that word asks them to do. If they say 'explain', ask them to say their answer with 'because'. If they say 'compare', ask them to say what is the same and what is different. The conversation takes five minutes on a wet Tuesday in November. It does not need to become a test.

When a marked paper comes home, look at the command word before you look at the mark. Ask: 'The examiner wanted an explanation. This answer is a description. What would you add?' That question is more useful than 'you need to revise more', because it points to the exact place where the answer slipped. It also gives your child a way to fix the next answer.

Past papers from school are useful, but use them for the command word as well as the content. Cover the answer and ask your child to plan the first line. If the question says 'evaluate', the first line should not be a fact. If it says 'describe', the first line should not be a reason. Small corrections at the start of an answer are easier to carry into the exam than a full rewrite at the end.

There is a limit to what a checklist can do. A pupil who knows the command words but cannot explain a concept has a content gap. A pupil who can explain verbally but freezes in writing has a writing gap. A pupil who runs out of time has a timing gap. A pupil who misreads the question has a reading gap. The command word is one part of the puzzle, not the whole picture.

Where tutoring fits

We work with pupils aged 7 to 18. Lessons are one-to-one, either online or at home. Our tutors are DBS-checked and qualified, and we send progress reports for parents. A family coordinator keeps reporting consistent if you have more than one child with us, and each child gets the same report format across key stages. We teach maths, English and science, and prepare pupils for 11+, GCSE and A-level exams.

A tutor can hear a pupil's answer and point out the moment it slips from explanation into description. That is hard to do alone, because the pupil often cannot hear the slip in their own words. The command word is a small thing to teach and a hard habit to build. A pupil can learn the definitions in a ten-minute conversation and still forget them under pressure. The habit needs practice on real questions, with someone who will stop the answer and ask, 'What did the question ask you to do?'

If a marked paper leaves you unsure whether the problem is content, command words, timing, or exam technique, ask us. We will look at the paper with you and tell you what we see. We cannot promise a grade. Just a clearer view of what is going wrong, and a plan for the next piece of work.