Every exam question hides three things: the action it wants, the topic it is about, and the limit on the answer. Find those three before you write and most “right answer, no marks” problems disappear.
What are the three parts?
The action is the command word. The topic is the thing the question is about. The limit is any phrase that narrows the answer: a time, a place, a number of points or a unit.
Mark them in three different ways. For example, circle the action, underline the topic and put a box around the limit.
Worked example
Here is an original Science question.
Explain why a steel spoon feels colder than a wooden spoon when both have been in the same room overnight.
Splitting it gives the following.
| Part | Text from the question |
|---|---|
| Action | Explain why |
| Topic | steel spoon feels colder than wooden spoon |
| Limit | same room overnight (both at the same temperature) |
The limit matters most here. Both spoons are at room temperature, so an answer saying “steel is colder” is false. A full answer says steel conducts heat away from the hand faster, so the hand loses heat quickly and the spoon feels colder.
What does the common mistake look like?
A student sees “steel” and “wooden”, remembers that metals are good conductors, and writes: “Steel is a metal and metals are good conductors of heat.” That sentence is true and is the start of the answer, but it never connects to the hand or to the feeling of cold.
The action was “explain why”, which needs a chain from cause to effect. The student stopped at the fact and skipped the chain. Reading the verb first would have triggered the prompt: and what does that do to the hand?
Three steps to use every time
- Circle the action word and say what kind of answer it needs, such as a reason, a list, a number or a comparison.
- Underline the topic, then find the limit phrase and box it.
- After writing, reread the question and check that your last sentence answers the action.
Self-check
Split this original question into action, topic and limit, then decide what a full answer must contain.
State two reasons why a village near a river delta builds houses on stilts.
Answer
Action: state, which means short points with no long explanation. Topic: houses on stilts in a river delta village.
Limit: two reasons, so exactly two. A full answer gives two separate reasons, for example protection from flooding when the river rises and protection from damp ground. Writing one reason in two different ways would lose a mark.
Where to go next
Once you can find the task, practise on real command words with the command word practice coach. The next skill, tracking pronoun references, helps when the question itself is a long sentence. The academic reading foundations hub shows the other three skills.