Command words are instructions, not decoration

Every question on a CAIE or Pearson Edexcel International paper opens with a command word that tells you exactly what kind of answer is expected — and the mark scheme is built directly around that word. Treating "describe" and "evaluate" as interchangeable, or skimming past the command word to get to the content, is one of the most common and avoidable ways to lose marks across IGCSE, International A-Level and International AS-Level alike.

The most common command words and what they actually want

  • State / identify — a brief, factual answer with no explanation required. Writing a paragraph here wastes time the mark scheme doesn't reward.
  • Describe — give an accurate account of what something is or how it works, without explaining why.
  • Explain — describe and give reasons or causes. An explanation without the "why" is really just a description, and is marked as one.
  • Discuss — present more than one side of an issue or more than one possible explanation, generally without necessarily reaching a final judgement.
  • Evaluate / assess — weigh up evidence or arguments and reach a supported judgement. This is usually where the highest marks on a question sit, and it's the command word most often under-answered.
  • Compare — explicitly address similarities and differences between two things, not just describe each one separately and leave the comparing implicit.

Why this matters more at International A-Level than it seems

At International A-Level and International AS-Level specifically, the gap between an "explain" answer and an "evaluate" answer on the same content can be the difference between a mid-range and a top-band mark, because the marks for judgement and evaluation simply aren't available to an answer that only explains. Knowing the content isn't the limiting factor here nearly as often as matching your answer's structure to what the command word actually asked for.

A quick habit that prevents most command-word mistakes

Before you start writing, underline the command word and the topic in the question separately. If the command word is "evaluate" and your plan is a list of facts with no judgement at the end, that's the moment to notice it — not after you've already written the answer and moved on to the next question.

Revising with ExamPass.ai

ExamPass.ai generates IGCSE, International A-Level and International AS-Level questions using the same command-word conventions your real papers use, and AI marking checks specifically whether your answer matched what the command word required — so if "evaluate" answers are quietly costing you marks, it shows up clearly in your feedback rather than just as a lower score.