Exam preparation
Exam command words: what should your answer do?
Describe, explain and evaluate ask for different kinds of work. Read the full task, choose evidence and check that your response performs the requested action.
Exam command words tell you what to do with your knowledge. You may remember the topic accurately and still write a response that describes when the question asks you to explain, or lists two positions when it asks you to evaluate them. The fix begins before the first sentence: identify the action, the subject and the limits of the task. Then select a form of answer that makes that action visible.
This guide uses invented practice questions about school travel, rainfall and reading. They are teaching examples, not official exam items or mark schemes. You can work through them with paper and a pencil. Your course syllabus, teacher’s instructions and the guidance for the actual assessment take priority. A command word is a useful clue, but it never replaces the rest of the question or guarantees a particular number of marks.
1. Read exam command words inside the whole task
Start by separating three parts of the instruction. The action might be explain. The subject might be a change in the number of students cycling to school. The limit might be using the information in Figure 2. Underline each part differently. If the task also says give two reasons, include both; if it says refer to the source, use that source. A fluent paragraph about cycling in general does not satisfy a question tied to particular data.
The Cambridge International command-word guidance provides definitions and reminds candidates to read subject-specific expectations in their syllabus. Use your own course guidance to make a small reference sheet. Do not treat an internet list as a universal marking rule: the same verb can call for different depth in a short response and a longer assessment.
Before writing, complete a plain sentence: “I need to do this action to this material within these boundaries.” For example, explain why a supplied survey shows a change, using two details from the survey. If you cannot finish that sentence, reread the task and its source. Also notice connected instructions: compare and explain asks you to perform both actions, rather than choosing whichever feels easier.
2. Describe the pattern; explain the relationship
Imagine an invented table showing that 40 students cycled on Monday and 60 on Friday. A description can state that the recorded number increased by 20. It identifies what the table shows. An explanation needs a reason or mechanism supported by the information available. If the source says a new protected cycle route opened midweek, you can connect the safer route to a possible change in travel choices. Do not invent that route when it is absent from the material.
The sentence “More students cycled because the number increased” repeats the observation in different words. It does not explain a cause. Test your explanation by asking whether the second part adds a relationship that was not already contained in the first. Where evidence is limited, distinguish a plausible explanation from an established conclusion. A change over five days does not, on its own, prove why it happened.
Try writing two answers to the same small source: one beginning with the observed pattern, another linking a reason to the pattern. Keep both short enough to inspect. The point is not to add because mechanically. The point is to supply a valid connection. In a science task, that connection may involve a process; in history, it may involve a supported account of motives and circumstances.
3. Compare on a shared basis
A comparison works best when both items are considered using the same relevant feature. Suppose an invented school survey gives cycling rates of 30% for School A and 45% for School B. “School B has a higher recorded cycling rate by 15 percentage points” directly connects them. Two separate paragraphs that describe each school but never connect them leave the comparison for the reader to assemble. Check whether your course expects similarities, differences or both.
Choose criteria that serve the actual question. If the question concerns travel choices, compare proportions using the same definition of cycling and a comparable period. Do not compare a count from one school with a percentage from another as though they were equivalent. Differences in total enrollment may explain why the larger count does not imply the larger rate. A comparison is only useful when the units and categories are aligned.
For text questions, use the same principle without reducing interpretation to numbers. Compare how two speakers address the same issue, and point to relevant wording from each source. A paired sentence can present the shared feature and the difference together. Keep quotations proportionate and explain their relevance. An unrelated quotation from each passage is two pieces of information, not yet a comparison.
4. Analyse evidence rather than naming features
Analysis asks you to examine how relevant parts relate to the whole. In an invented speech supporting a cycle route, you might identify an appeal to safety, select a phrase that expresses that appeal and explain how it supports the speaker’s purpose. Merely labeling a feature, such as repetition, stops before the relationship has been shown. Ask what the feature does here and what in the source supports that interpretation.
Keep the chain visible: observation, evidence, interpretation. For example, a repeated reference to children can keep a particular group central to the argument. Whether that makes the argument persuasive depends on the audience and context supplied. Avoid claiming to know what every listener felt. Your interpretation should be defensible from the material, rather than presented as an invented audience reaction.
If you need a plan for a longer response, the Lirno essay-outline guide can help separate a claim from its supporting detail. Check the outline against the actual task before expanding it. Some short questions need one tightly connected point; others need several. A familiar paragraph template is useful only when it fits the requested work.
5. Evaluate using criteria and a supported judgement
An evaluation needs a basis for judging. Consider the invented question “Evaluate a proposal to provide covered cycle parking.” Decide which criteria the task makes relevant: likely usefulness, cost, available space or access for different students. If no figures are supplied, do not fabricate a price or assume the proposal is affordable. State which information is missing and what that uncertainty means for your judgement.
A useful answer weighs evidence rather than counting advantages and disadvantages. Protection from rain might matter to regular cyclists, while the proposal may do little for students who lack a safe route to school. The importance of those points depends on the stated objective. If the objective is to protect existing cyclists’ equipment, the judgement may differ from one about increasing cycling across the whole school.
Finish with a conclusion whose strength matches the evidence. You might support the proposal subject to a space check, or argue that more information is needed before comparing it with another option. Explain why. “It has good and bad points” does not tell the reader how you weighed them. Equally, a confident verdict unsupported by the supplied material is not made stronger by sounding decisive.
6. Match the scope before you match the length
A question’s scope includes its time period, source boundaries, named concepts and required number of examples. Circle words such as only, two, in this passage and to what extent. They can change the answer as much as the main verb. If you are asked about rainfall in one month, a general account of the region’s annual climate may be accurate but irrelevant. Keep the unit and period visible while selecting evidence.
Use the assessment’s own guidance to judge depth. Marks, permitted time, answer space and published criteria can help you decide how much development is expected, but there is no universal one-sentence-per-mark rule. For a long task with multiple verbs, sketch a small allocation of work before writing. Reserve space for the judgement if evaluation is required; do not spend everything retelling background.
A reliable planning note can be only three lines: action to perform, evidence to use, conclusion or relationship to establish. It is a working tool, not extra prose that must appear in the submitted answer. If you find that one line contains material outside the task, replace it before drafting. This is faster than repairing a polished paragraph that answers a nearby question.
7. Practise the change in action
Take one familiar topic and write three different instructions about it. Describe a supplied travel pattern. Explain a possible relationship using supplied contextual information. Evaluate a proposed response using stated criteria. Answer each independently, then highlight what changes. This isolates the skill of following instructions from the difficulty of learning a completely new topic. Once the distinction is clear, try a different subject and a fresh source.
For timed practice, use a brief attempt and a focused check rather than repeatedly rewriting a whole essay. In the Lirno study-practice workflow, the useful aim is to turn a particular mistake into a new practice task. For example, practise writing one causal link if your answer only described the data. Paper practice works too: swap instructions with a classmate and explain why each response fits.
Before looking at a model, mark where your answer performs the requested action. If no sentence can be highlighted as a comparison or judgement, that is a specific revision target. After reading authorized feedback, close it and make a fresh attempt with different details. Copying the model trains recognition of its wording; rebuilding the reasoning shows whether you can use the distinction yourself.
8. Check the answer against the instruction
At the end, read the question again and check every part separately. Does your response address the specified subject? Does it use the required material? Does it perform each requested action? Then inspect individual claims: which are supported, which are reasonable interpretations and which are guesses? Remove invented details and repair unsupported connections before adding decorative wording. Clear reasoning matters more than a stock phrase announcing that analysis has happened.
Outside an assessment, where school rules allow it, you can ask the Lirno tutor to check whether your own attempt explains or merely describes. Supply the complete instruction and verify that it has been read correctly. Ask for the first mismatch and the reason, rather than a replacement submission. AI can misread wording, overlook subject conventions or reason incorrectly; verify feedback against your course materials.
Practice help does not establish permission to use a device, AI or external material during a test. Follow the rules for your school and assessment. Lirno does not guarantee correctness, grades, mastery or permission. If the task remains ambiguous, ask your teacher about the expected action during preparation. The goal is a response you can justify from the instruction and evidence, not one that merely resembles an online sample.
