What examiners mean by "explain" — and why your right answer scored nothing

7 min read · updated 10 October 2026

Knowing the content is not the same as answering the question

Here is a pattern that shows up every time a student marks their own paper honestly: an answer that is factually correct, clearly written, obviously the work of someone who understands the topic — and worth two marks out of six.

Almost always, the reason is the command word. The question said "explain" and the answer described. It said "evaluate" and the answer listed. The knowledge was there; the thing being asked for was not.

This is the cheapest set of marks in any exam to recover, because it costs no new revision at all.

The command words, and what each one actually wants

• State / Give / Name — one fact, no reasoning. One mark, one short answer. Writing a paragraph here wastes time you need later.
• Define — the precise meaning of a term. The mark scheme usually wants particular words; approximate paraphrases often miss.
• Describe — say what something is or what happens. No reasons required. "The graph rises steeply then levels off" is a description.
• Explain — say why, with a chain of reasoning. Each link in the chain is usually worth a mark. "The graph levels off because the enzyme is saturated, so adding more substrate cannot increase the rate."
• Compare — both things, and the relationship between them. An answer that describes one and then the other, without connecting them, loses the comparison marks.
• Calculate — show the working, not only the answer. Method marks survive an arithmetic slip; a bare wrong number earns nothing.
• Show that — you are given the answer. The marks are entirely for the steps, so every line matters and writing the final figure earns nothing on its own.
• Suggest — apply what you know to an unfamiliar situation. There is often more than one acceptable answer; what matters is that the reasoning is sound.
• Evaluate / Assess / Discuss — arguments on both sides, weighed, with a judgement at the end. Students who argue one side well still lose most of the marks.
• Justify — a decision plus the reasons that support it, usually using the evidence in the question.

The two that cost the most marks

Explain. Students describe when asked to explain, constantly. The test is simple: does your answer contain the word "because", or a word doing that job? If a chain of cause and effect is not visible, you have described something.

Evaluate. This is where the biggest blocks of marks sit in Business, Economics, Psychology and similar subjects — and where answers most often stop halfway. A full answer makes a point, explains the mechanism, considers what would weaken it or when it would not hold, and then reaches a judgement. Students who stop after "explains the mechanism" tend to sit one grade below where their knowledge should put them, consistently, for years.

Reading the marks as instructions

The mark allocation tells you the size of answer expected. A 2-mark question wants roughly two creditworthy points, not a paragraph. A 6-mark question wants six — and a brilliant two-sentence answer cannot score six however good it is.

Use the marks to budget your time too. If a paper gives you roughly a mark a minute, spending ten minutes on a 3-mark question is borrowing from somewhere you will need it.

How to actually fix this

When you mark a past paper, add one column to your notes: for every lost mark, write whether you did not know the content, or knew it and answered the wrong command. Most students are startled by the split — a large share of their lost marks turn out to be the second kind.

Then take three questions with the same command word, read the mark schemes side by side, and notice the shape the examiner is rewarding. It is a recognisable pattern, and once you can see it you stop losing marks you had already earned.