How to answer GCSE exam questions using the mark scheme
How to answer GCSE exam questions by command word — describe, explain, evaluate, analyse — and what each one actually demands.
The fastest way to learn how to answer GCSE exam questions is to read the command word first and match your answer to exactly what it demands. "Describe" wants observations, "explain" wants reasons, "evaluate" wants judgement, "analyse" wants structure. Marks are lost every year because students answer the question they expected, not the one in front of them.
What are the GCSE command words?
Every exam board — AQA, Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas — publishes a glossary of command words. The wording varies slightly but the meaning is the same. Learn these six and you cover almost every question:
- State / Give: a short factual answer, often one or two words.
- Describe: say what something is or what happens, without saying why.
- Explain: give reasons — usually in cause-and-effect chains.
- Compare: identify similarities AND differences, not one or the other.
- Analyse: break something into parts and show how they relate.
- Evaluate: weigh up evidence on both sides and reach a judgement.
How do I answer a "describe" question?
Stick to observations. If the question asks you to describe a trend on a graph, name the trend, quote two data points with units, and stop. Adding a reason is not extra credit — it is the wrong question. Mark schemes for describe questions reward precision and data, not analysis.
How do I answer an "explain" question?
Build a cause-and-effect chain. A six-mark explain answer should read: this happens, which causes that, which causes this, which results in the outcome. Each link is roughly a mark. Use connectives — because, so, therefore, which means — to make the chain visible to the examiner.
How do I answer an "evaluate" or "analyse" question?
Evaluate questions want both sides plus a judgement. Spend one paragraph on the case for, one on the case against, and a final sentence on which is stronger and why. Analyse questions want structure: break the topic into its components, explain how each one works, then show how they connect.
How do I practise this?
Take a past paper and, before writing a single word, highlight every command word and write one sentence next to it: "this wants reasons," "this wants both sides." Then answer. Mark with the official mark scheme and underline the exact phrases the examiner credited — those are the templates to reuse.
Where Recall fits in
Recall's exam-question generator builds questions using real GCSE command words and provides mark-scheme-style answers, so you can drill describe vs explain vs evaluate across any topic until matching the command word is automatic.