Tips for Answering Your Exams and Assignment Questions Effectively

Tips for Answering Your
Exams and Assignment
Questions Effectively
Copyright © 2021 Talent & Skills HuB

Objectives
Understanding the Purpose of Assignment and Examination Questions
Understand how to Analyse Assignment and Examination Questions
Understanding the Principal Issues in the Assignment and Examination Questions
Understanding the Key Terms in the Assignment and Examination Questions
Understanding the Instruction Terms in the Assignment and Examination Questions
Understanding the Pitfalls To Avoid when answering Assignment and Examination Questions

The Purpose of Assignments and
Examinations Questions
Most assignment and examination questions are set to help you develop or test your
understanding skills, analytical skills and your ability to present arguments effectively.
Assignment or examination questions may be set based on varieties of reasons which
include you to:
Demonstrate that you know the facts concerning the topic or subject
Demonstrate the you can intelligently discuss a statement or a proposition that they
offered you
Demonstrate that you can explore the argument for and against any given issue.
Present your own opinions and ideas on a topic
Demonstrate that you can evaluate the validity of a case
Demonstrate that you can analyse a statement, a body of work or a data set

Analysing Questions
To effectively understand the assignment of exam questions, you need to pay close
attention to the wordings of the question(s).
Be prepared to analyse the key words found in the question
Answering a question successfully lies in producing exactly what the question asked.
Focus your attention on the topic(s) they want you to discuss.
Stay within the limits of the answers they want you to provide

Analysing Questions Continues
There are three elements you should look out for in your assignment or
examination questions:
The principal issue or concept behind the question
The key terms which embody that concept or tell you what to deal with
The instructional terms that will help you to understand how to
approach the question

Understanding the Principal Issues
The first principle of understanding your assignment question is knowing your audience.
Another basic principle of understanding the questions is knowing the purpose of the
question and allowing that purpose to shape your discussions
Your professor wants to see you work through complex ideas and deepen your knowledge
through the process of producing the paper.
Each assignment; be it an argumentative paper, reaction paper, reflective paper, lab
report, discussion question, essay exam, project proposal is ultimately about your learning
To succeed with writing assignments (and benefit from them) you have to understand
their learning-related purposes.
You are using the assignment to demonstrate to your examiner your ability to analyse
and understand topic.

Understanding the Key
Terms in the Question
Every assignment or examination question contains key
words or phrases that tell you what topic you are expected
to write about.
They define the topic, indicating the areas you should
concentrate on.
The key words are generally easy to identify, as they are
likely to be the topics that you have studied during
lectures.

Instructional Terms
Instructional terms are commonly used for setting essay questions.
The instructional terms always come in the form of verb (action
words) which instruct you or directing you in the approach you
should take towards the proposition or addressing the question or
statement.
The exact meaning of the terms will vary slightly depending upon
the subject you are studying.
Look out for those instructional terms and think carefully about
their meaning in relation to the given question
Understanding the exact meaning of the instructional terms will
help you to successfully and effectively interpret the question.

Instructional Terms
Account for: Explain the reason for, giving an indication of all relevant circumstances.
Analyse: Study in depth, identifying and describing in detail the main characteristics with the
implications on the subject of discussion
Assess: Examine closely, with a view to weighing up a particular situation. Consider in a
balanced way the strength and weaknesses or points for and against a proposition. In conclusion,
state your judgment clearly
Comment: state clearly and in moderate fashion your opinions on the material in question.
Support your views with references to suitable evidence or explanations

Instruction Terms Continues
Compare: Look for similarities and differences between two or more things.
Contrast: Deliberately single out and emphasise the differences and dissimilarities between two
or more things.
Criticise: Give your judgement about a statement or body of work; explore its implications,
discussing all the evidence which is available. Be specific in your examination.
Define: Set down the precise meaning of something. Be prepared to state the limits of the
definition. Take note of multiples meanings if they exist.

Describe: Give a detailed and comprehensive account of something
Discuss: Investigate and examine by careful argument. Explore the implications or the advantages
of disadvantages. Debate the case and possibly consider any alternatives. This is probably the
most common instruction term which requires you to produce interesting knowledge in response
to the given topic in the question.
Evaluate: Make an appraisal of the worth of something in light of its truth or utility. Emphasise
the views of authorities as well as your personal estimation.
Explain: Make plain. Account for. Clarify, interpret and spell out the material you present, giving
reasons for important features or developments.

How far: This is similar to questions which begin with “To what extent..”. You are expected to
make your case or present your argument, whilst showing an awareness that alternate or even
contradictory explanations may exist. Careful assessment and weighing of evidence are called for.
Illustrate: Make clear and explicit by the discussion of concrete examples.
Justify: Show adequate grounds for decisions or conclusions. Answer or refute the objectives
likely to be made against them.

Outline: Give the main features or the general principles of a subject, omitting minor details and
emphasising structure or arrangement.
Relate: Show how things are connected, and how they possibly affect, cause or resemble each
other.
Review: Make a survey of and examine the subject critically.
State: Present the main points in brief and clear form
Trace: Follow the development or history of a topic from some point of origin.

Pitfalls To Avoid
Answering the Wrong Question: Some student read a question
with no more than a quick glance, then immediately start
answering it simply because they know a lot about the subject,
but they unfortunately misread the question. Read and
understand the question properly before answering
Misunderstanding the point in the question: This happens
when you badly placed emphasis or do not know the most
important part of the question
Misunderstanding the emphasis in the question: Complex
questions may include a number of items, but call for a
particular emphasis that can be easy to spot.

Pitfalls To Avoid
Misreading the instruction: No matter how clearly a question
is expressed, there are always students that fail to follow its
instructions. This commonly happens when the questions
present a range of options.
Not reading Other Instructions: Most students after reading
the assignment question immediately rush into answering the
questions without reading other important supporting
instructions. Ignorance of those instruction can cause you to not
follow the guideline of the assignment or fail the assessment.

Pitfalls To Avoid
Changing the Question: This happens when the student read
the question, then decide to reproduce their own version of the
question through which they would remove some essential parts
of the question or instructions.
Wandering off the Point: Sometimes through the process of
changing the questions, students would answer the question they
would like to have been asked rather than the one they have
been asked to answer. . Mostly because they were partially
prepared for the assignment or exam.
.

Summary
Understanding the purpose of every assignment or examination question will help you
successfully answer the question.
 Analysing questions lies in paying close attention to the three elements of questions which
include the principal issue, the key terms and instruction terms
Each assignment; be it an argumentative paper, reaction paper, reflective paper, lab report,
discussion question, essay exam or project proposal is ultimately about your learning and success
lies in understanding the learning-related purposes.
The instructional terms always come in the form of verb (action words) which instruct you and
directs your approach towards the proposition or addressing for the question or statement.

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Skills HuB
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