Command terms drive the markband, not just the content

IB examiners mark against markband descriptors that describe the quality of your response as a whole, rather than awarding a fixed mark for each individual fact (see our companion guide on how IB markbands work for the full breakdown). The command term in a question is the strongest signal of which markband descriptors are even in play. Answering a "discuss" question as if it were an "outline" question caps your mark regardless of how accurate your content is, because the higher markbands explicitly require the analytical or evaluative behaviour the lower-level command term never asked for.

The command terms that distinguish low markbands from high ones

  • Define / State / Outline — give a brief account or summary. These sit at the foundation of most markschemes and rarely access top bands on their own — they establish that you know something, not that you can reason about it.
  • Describe — give a detailed account, but without justification or explanation of significance. Useful for building up to a stronger answer, but on its own typically caps you in the lower-middle markbands.
  • Explain — give a detailed account including reasons or causes. This is where analysis genuinely begins — you must show the mechanism or logic connecting cause and effect, not just state that a connection exists.
  • Analyse — break a complex idea, situation or set of data into its component parts and examine each in detail. This term wants you to go beneath the surface, not just summarise what is given.
  • Discuss — offer a considered and balanced review of an issue, including a range of arguments, factors or hypotheses, typically reaching a reasoned conclusion. A discuss answer with only one side considered is structurally incomplete, regardless of how well that one side is argued.
  • Evaluate — make an appraisal by weighing up strengths and limitations, usually reaching a justified judgement. This is one level beyond "discuss" — it demands an explicit verdict, supported by the analysis you have already done, not just a balanced survey.
  • To what extent — explore the topic from multiple angles, recognising that the answer is not simply yes or no, and arrive at a supported judgement about degree. This phrase is one of the clearest top-markband signals in the IB command term list — a confident final judgement, grounded in the evidence discussed, is essential.

HL versus SL — same command terms, different depth expected

The command terms themselves are shared across HL and SL within a subject, but markband descriptors and the depth of analysis expected typically scale with the additional content and skills HL students have covered. A "to what extent" answer that would sit comfortably in the top SL markband may not reach the equivalent top HL markband if it does not draw on the deeper conceptual or quantitative tools the HL extension content provides.

A practical drill for command-term discipline

Before answering a past-paper question, write the command term at the top of your answer plan and ask: what is the highest markband behaviour this term demands? Then check, once you have written your answer, whether you actually demonstrated that behaviour — not just whether your facts were correct.

Using ExamPass.ai to practise this

ExamPass.ai generates IB-style mock papers and topic quizzes that use the same command term conventions examiners apply, with AI marking that explains which markband your answer reached and why — helping you see exactly where the gap between "discuss" and "evaluate" shows up in your own writing.