Techniques to answering questions

[Hello1290]

Is anyone able to point me to a list that gives good guidance on how to answer questions at GCSE level particularly in English/History/RE. I think I am looking for definitions of what questions like explain/contrast/describe etc... want in the answer.
DD sometimes struggles with interpreting the question and is due to sit GCSE's next year.

DD's RE revision guide was pretty good on the question answering guidance.

www.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/gcse/english-language-8700/teach/command-words

I recommend the CGP revision guides as they seem to condense the relevant information into the fewest words. They should explain how to deal with each of these. In general, when asked to contrast, a student needs to write something along the lines of: in example A X happens, whereas in example B it is "adjective + er" eg higher, louder, darker.

Some of my students take highlighter pens into exams and highlight the words such as describe, explain, underline, 3 different words so their eye is drawn to exactly what they need to do. Also, use the mark allocation for each part question. A 1 mark answer is normally a short phrase or even one word, whereas 4 marks need either 2 points fully explained or 4 separate short points.

I suggest you look at previous question papers and mark schemes from 2019 or previous so you get an idea of how these are marked.

Thanks everyone, really helpful advice - exactly what I was looking for.