In January our Year 10 students sat their first of four GCSE Geography unit examinations. The students had revised incredibly hard, utilised revision guides that were produced for them and learnt case studies inside out and knew key facts and figures to help support their answers. However, when the results came through and we searched through the advanced analysis available from the AQA exam board we noticed a remarkable pattern of students answering particular questions rather poorly.
If we were asked to describe the picture to the above would we answer in different ways? The command word describe is asking to "say what you see" with little emphasis on explanation. However, from the image above it should be obvious to see how the command words "Describe" and "Explain" can mean two completely different things. However, if we move to a more 'useful' (by that I mean a diagram our students are likely to see in their exams) source it is possible to see how ambiguity can begin to sneak in. The infamous hockey stick style graph like the one below can lead to our students structuring perfectly good answers but not the ones that the examiners are after.
If asked to describe the graph above students would be wise to follow the HLGTA anagram to help structure their answer. By finding the Highest, Lowest, General Trend and Anomaly points from the diagram, students should create an excellent description of the information shown on the graph with little or no interpretation involved. However, if the command word for the question asked "Explain" or "give reasons for the shape" then interpretation will be expected and this time credit will not be primarily given for statements but rather the interpretation that was actually missing from the previous answer. How important is it for students to understand the difference between these key words and the others they face in their examinations.
At this point, it is important to highlight that these command words are not always the same across subjects. A describe question in History may be far more open ended than in Geography, so we have had to make sure that our students take ownership for these keywords within Geography and write accordingly.
For the exam board we use, credit is given throughout for the quality of written communication expressed through students' answers. Therefore we have created this resource that has been printed off on A3 paper, placed back to back, laminated and given out to students across the Key Stages to ensure that the standard of their written answers are as high as they can be.
The title of this post is "the difference three marks can make", this refers to the grade boundaries that were used for the January exams our Year 10s sat. Just three UMS marks was the difference between a grade D and a C. We went through the paper with the students, with the above resource at their side and noted down how and why students had lost marks. The students themselves were so annoyed at the way they let simple and easy marks slip from their grasp. The emphasis for us is how just a few tweaks in practice and routine for the students can have a big impact on the grades they can achieve. The resources are now readily handed out to KS3 students to help set successful and embed a high quality of written communication in their work, I guess proof will be how students perform in their next season of examinations. However, for now it is great to see how students' work is more free flowing and expressed with greater explanation.
