Answering the question asked is the exam technique that examiners' reports keep returning to, in law, history, mathematics and accountancy alike, and most exam technique tips come back to it. Oxford's law examiners wrote in their 2024 report that every candidate could score higher "by answering the question set"; their history colleagues found the weakest essays answered "different questions to those which had been set".
EdCitation publishes this guide. We read every source at its publisher on 2 October 2026: command-word lists, examiners' reports from Oxford and the ACCA, and one experiment. The marked-up question and the table of faults are ours. No technique can promise a mark.
EdCitation never writes any part of an answer or a paper, and we are proud of that: reading a question and judging what it wants is what an exam measures. For coursework and practice questions, its free Check your paper reads written instructions into a checklist; it is never for use in an exam. Timing is in how to write an exam essay under time pressure, and the weeks before in how to revise for exams.
How do you answer the question asked in an exam, step by step?
You answer the question asked by reading before you write: the paper, the question, then your plan against it.
- Practise beforehand. Mark up past questions without answering them; for coursework and practice tasks, compare your reading with EdCitation's Check your paper checklist.
- Read the whole paper and its instructions first: how many questions, from which sections.
- Mark each question's command word, topic and every limit (a date, a place, a number, "using the data").
- Count the tasks and the marks. Two command words mean two tasks; the marks set the depth.
- Write your answer in one line, then plan.
- Answer in the order asked, in the question's own key words.
- End with what the command word demands, then reread the question and tick every part.
What do exam command words mean?
A command word tells you what kind of answer earns the marks: a fact, an account, a reason, a working or a judgement. Boards and universities define their own, so your own board's or module's list wins.
Essay words (analyse, discuss, evaluate) are in how to read an assignment brief and rubric and the exam essay guide; this table covers the words of short-answer, data and problem papers.
| Command word | What it asks | Source |
|---|---|---|
| State, give, name | A short answer recalled, with no explanation | Pearson (n.d.); AQA (n.d.) |
| Describe | An account, developed but needing no reasons | Pearson (n.d.) |
| Explain | The reasons something happens; some reasoning must appear | AQA (n.d.); Pearson (n.d.) |
| Suggest | What you know, applied to a new situation | AQA (n.d.) |
| Justify | An answer supported with evidence from the information supplied | AQA (n.d.) |
| Calculate | A number, with working shown and its unit | Pearson (n.d.) |
| Determine | An answer from the data; in mathematics, with justification and working | AQA (n.d.); OCR (n.d.) |
| Show that | Every step of working, because the result is given | OCR (n.d.) |
| Hence | Start from the result just found | OCR (n.d.) |
| Examine | A close look at detail, which may include critical evaluation | University of Nottingham (n.d.) |
Where the lists disagree
On "compare", Nottingham's handout, adapted from Cottrell's Study Skills Handbook, gives compare the similarities and leaves differences to contrast. AQA (n.d.) asks for similarities and/or differences. Pearson's psychology table wants at least one of each before full marks are possible. Unless your module says otherwise, give both and say which matters more. "Discuss" splits too: the exam essay guide sets out three boards' readings, and Pearson adds one in which discuss "does not require any judgements or conclusions".
When the question has no command word
Questions beginning "Is", "Was", "Why" or "How important" hide their instruction; the University of Nottingham (n.d.) suggests writing it in: "(To what extent) was…", "(Discuss) why…". So "Was inflation the main cause?" wants a verdict on "main", not a list of causes.
The marks tell you the depth
Pearson (n.d.) puts state and name typically at 1 or 2 marks and describe at 2 to 5. Its 20-mark assess question without a scenario gives 8 marks to knowledge and understanding (AO1) and 12 to analysis and evaluation (AO3), so candidates should write more evaluation than knowledge. At university, the marking criteria do this job.
How do you read an exam question so you answer it?
Read it as three things to tick (command, topic, limits), and answer the question on the paper, not the one you expected.
The question you expected is not the question set
Crisp et al. (2008) tested 339 students aged 15 and 16 in England on adapted GCSE science questions. Past papers build expectations, and where a question departs from them a student can go wrong for the wrong reasons. Rewording to weaken that pull raised mean scores on three of four questions; on the fourth the effect was small, which the authors read as expectations too strong to suppress. We read the abstract only (paywalled). The more familiar a question looks, the slower you should read it.
A question marked up (ours)
Explain why a minimum wage set above the market-clearing wage may reduce employment, and evaluate whether the evidence on the UK National Minimum Wage since 1999 supports that prediction. (25 marks)
- Commands: explain (the theory, with reasons), then evaluate (a judgement on evidence).
- Topic: employment, not poverty or prices.
- Limits: above market-clearing; the UK's National Minimum Wage; since 1999.
- What ends it: a verdict on "supports", which may be "partly".
- The trap: a revised essay on minimum wages in general, or on American evidence.
Do not narrow the question, and do not skip a word
Oxford's Faculty of Law (n.d.) examiners, on a five-day open-book criminal law paper, wrote that candidates "do not have the power to narrow a question". On a gender and Protestant cultures paper, the Faculty of History (n.d.) found answers "ignoring a key word in the question", or rushing into detail without asking what it was driving at. On the Wars of the Roses paper, few who wrote on chronicles and propaganda asked what "propaganda" might mean.
What should you do in the first minutes of an exam?
Use the first minutes to read, not to write. The University of Southampton Library (2026) sets the order: skim the paper, read the instructions and every question, read each question a few times, find its action verb, and plan before writing. It also suggests a "brain dump" of what you recall. Three checks from the reports belong here:
- The rubric. Oxford's contract law examiners blamed low marks mainly on candidates who "failed to answer the required number of questions" or wrote some in note form.
- No warm-up. In employment law, some spent time on background "before turning to the question itself". Put your answer in the first paragraph.
- A heading per requirement. The ACCA's Financial Reporting examiners recommend headings for a specific requirement and for the conclusion (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants [ACCA], n.d.).
For nerves in those minutes, how to beat exam stress has a breathing routine.
Why did I lose marks in my exam when I knew the topic?
You lose marks when you know the topic because knowing it and answering the question are marked separately. The reports we read name the same common mistakes across four subjects.
| What went wrong | What the examiners wrote | Report |
|---|---|---|
| The revised topic, not the one asked | A judicial review permission question answered as one on standing, losing marks "simply because they did not answer the question" | Oxford Law 2024, Administrative Law |
| A prepared answer reused | "Redeploying, with minimal amendment, prepared analyses" on neighbouring topics | Oxford Law 2024, Human Rights Law |
| A name taken as the topic | Seeing the High Trees case, many assumed the question was "exclusively about estoppel" | Oxford Law 2024, Contract Law |
| A different question | The weakest essays answered "different questions to those which had been set" | Oxford History 2024, Bodies of Feelings |
| A list where explain was asked | "A bullet point or short sentence is not enough" | ACCA PM, March/June 2025 |
| The question's method ignored | A gearing formula other than the one stated: "No credit was awarded" | ACCA FR, September/December 2025 |
| A result quoted, not proved | Some "simply quoted the argument principle" where a proof was expected | Oxford Mathematics Part A 2024 |
What the same reports reward
Oxford's EU law examiners praised introductions that set out the candidate's reading of the question; the environmental law examiners said tutorial essays "should not be replicated". The ACCA found unexplained points such as "ABB is costly" earned little (ACCA, 2025). If feedback names one, using feedback to improve your next essay turns it into a check.
How do you answer short-answer, data and calculation questions?
Give the answer the word asks for, show working, and use what the question gives you.
Show the working
The lists disagree. OCR (n.d.) says "give", "state" and "write down" need neither working nor justification; Pearson (n.d.) asks for working in calculations, the ACCA's examiners want workings "in full" (ACCA, n.d.), and Southampton notes working can earn marks when the final answer is wrong. Our view: show working unless told "write down". Read the format too: on one ACCA question many gave an unrounded figure where thousands were asked for, which the examiners put down to "misreading of the question".
Words that link the parts
"Hence" means build on what came before; "hence or otherwise" allows another valid method (OCR, n.d.). The University of Oxford Mathematical Institute (2024) gave no credit to one approach that "uses none of the earlier question", and noted a part many skipped "despite having a simple solution when the question was parsed".
Scenario or no scenario
One ACCA requirement was "a generic one, so there was no need to apply it" to the company in the case (ACCA, 2025), while the Financial Reporting examiners blamed low marks partly on not using the scenario enough (ACCA, n.d.). Where a requirement asks you to choose, choose: answers saying either company would be a good investment lost marks on the conclusion.
Check your paper: practise reading coursework instructions
For coursework and practice, EdCitation's Check your paper is, in our view, the strongest tool for turning instructions into a checklist, because every rule is printed beside the sentence it was read from, so its reading can be checked against yours in seconds; the run below shows why that matters. Free and with no account, it picks out the word limit for each part, the headings required, the number and age of sources, the citation style, and the font, spacing and margins. It is for coursework and practice only, never for use in an exam.
What came back for our question
We ran it on 2 October 2026 on a coursework version of our question, for an invented module:
ECO1003 Principles of Economics: coursework question 2. Explain why a minimum wage set above the market-clearing wage may reduce employment, and evaluate whether the evidence on the UK National Minimum Wage since 1999 supports that prediction. Your answer must not exceed 1,200 words, excluding the reference list. Use the headings Explanation, Evidence and Judgement. Include one labelled supply and demand diagram. Cite at least four scholarly sources, at least two of them published since 2018, in Harvard style. Use Arial 11 point and 1.5 line spacing.
| What it asks | Asked for | Read from |
|---|---|---|
| Font, font size, line spacing | Arial; 11 pt; 1.5 × | The font sentence |
| Word count | No more than 1,200 words | "Your answer must not exceed 1,200 words, excluding the reference list." |
| Sources (scholarly) | At least 4 sources | The sources sentence |
| Source dates | 1999 or later | The question itself |
| Citation style | Harvard | The sources sentence |
| Required headings | Explanation, Evidence, Judgement | The headings sentence |
Under "What it asks you to do, which no rule can test" came "Include one labelled supply and demand diagram."
One line shows why the quoted sentence matters. "Source dates: 1999 or later" was read from the question, whose "since 1999" limits the evidence discussed, not the sources cited; the real rule, two sources from 2018 on, is in the sources sentence, and the printed sentence shows the slip at once. With "since 1999" taken out, a second run returned "At least 2 sources: 2018 or later" and listed the question among what no rule can test. A date in a question limits the topic: the distinction this guide asks of you.
The command words stay yours: EdCitation leaves every word of the answer to you. Theoretics QA (Max, $24 a month) then judges a finished coursework answer against that checklist, rule by rule and on how well it does what was asked, and never rewrites it (pricing). For the sources, Find sources filters by years, and Cite a source builds each Harvard entry from the publisher's record.
Quick questions
What does "answer the question" mean in an exam?
Answering the question means doing what the command word asks, to the topic and within the limits set. Oxford's law examiners note that candidates cannot narrow a question.
Why did I lose marks when I knew the topic?
Marks are usually lost because the answer showed knowledge the question did not ask for: a revised topic, a prepared essay, or a list where explain was asked.
What is the difference between describe and explain?
Describe asks for an account; explain asks for the reasons. In Pearson's definitions, an explanation must contain some reasoning and a description need not.
What does "hence" mean in an exam question?
"Hence" means start from the result you have just found. OCR's mathematics command words add that "hence or otherwise" allows another valid method.
Can I use Check your paper in an exam?
No. EdCitation's Check your paper is for coursework instructions and practice questions; it reads them into a checklist, free, and writes no part of your answer.
References
- AQA. (n.d.). Command words [GCSE sciences]. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.aqa.org.uk/resources/science/gcse/teach/command-words
- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. (n.d.). Financial Reporting (FR) September/December 2025: Examiner's report. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-students/acca/f7/examinersreports/fr-examiner-report-d25.pdf
- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. (2025). Examiner's report: Performance Management (PM) March/June 2025. https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-students/acca/f5/examinersreports/MJ25%20PM%20examiner's%20report.pdf
- Crisp, V., Sweiry, E., Ahmed, A., & Pollitt, A. (2008). Tales of the expected: The influence of students' expectations on question validity and implications for writing exam questions. Educational Research, 50(1), 95–115. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131880801920445
- OCR. (n.d.). A and AS Level Mathematics: Command words [Poster]. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/533967-a-level-maths-command-words-poster-a4-size.pdf
- Pearson. (n.d.). Taxonomy (command) words used in Edexcel A Level Psychology. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/A%20Level/Psychology/2015/teaching-and-learning-materials/al-psychology-command-word-taxonomy-table.pdf
- University of Nottingham. (n.d.). Process words for assignments and exams [Handout]. Academic Support, Student Services. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studentservices/documents/processwordsforassignmentsandexams.pdf
- University of Oxford Faculty of History. (n.d.). FHS 2024 History examiners' report. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://ohh.web.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/fhs-history-examiners-report-2024.pdf
- University of Oxford Faculty of Law. (n.d.). FHS Jurisprudence and Diploma in Legal Studies: Examiners' report 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/inline-files/FHS%20Examiners%20Report%202024.pdf
- University of Oxford Mathematical Institute. (2024, November 12). Examiners' report: Final Honour School of Mathematics Part A, Trinity Term 2024. https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/Part%20A%20Mathematics%20Examiners%20Report%202024.pdf
- University of Southampton Library. (2026, January 15). Exams. Study Skills. https://library.soton.ac.uk/exams