Verbs in Exam Questions

Have varying degrees of difficulty

Require specific steps to answer them
Like the rungs on a ladder, you cant reach the higher ones without
passing the easier ones first.

Justify, assess, evaluate, analyse

Explain, account for

Describe, compare and contrast

Identify, define

What to do:
Identify/ define
Describe

name / state meaning

1. identify / define what you are describing
2. provide features / characteristics

Compare / contrast

1. identify / define what you are comparing

2. provide differences / similarities relating to
example chosen

Explain

1. identify /define what you are explaining

2. describe features
3. relate features to causes and effects / make
relationships clear

Account for

1. identify / define what you are accounting for

2. describe the characteristics or features
3. give reasons for using features

Assess

1.
2.
3.
4.

identify / define what you are assessing

describe the characteristics / features
explain the causes and effects of the features
use the effect of characteristics / features to make a
judgement of value, outcome, results or size

Evaluate

1.
2.
3.
4.

define what you are evaluating

describe its characteristics
explain causes and effects based on criteria
make judgement based on cause and effect

Analyse

1.
2.
3.
4.

identify components of what you are analysing

describe them
explain relationship between components
relate implications of relationships

Justify

1. define / identify component

2. describe component
3. explain causes / effects or relationship between
components
4. state argument / conclusion

EXAMPLES:
Identify three elements that exist as molecules.
Oxygen O2, hydrogen H2, nitrogen N2
Define the term empirical formula
The empirical formula of a compound is the formula that shows the simplest whole
number ratio in which the atoms are present in the compound.
Describe two modern-day situations where chemical reactivity is an important factor
in deciding which metal to use.
Chemical reactivity is a measure of how readily the metal combines with other
elements or compounds in contact with it.
(define)
Copper is unreactive and resistant to corrosion so it is used extensively in the
plumbing industry instead of cheaper iron which corrodes easily
Titanium is expensive but is unreactive so it is used for body implants over the
cheaper stainless steel which is susceptible to corrosion.
(describe)
Explain why there are more metals available for people to use today than there were
200 years ago. Illustrate with specific examples.
The availability of metals is determined by the reactivity of the metal. (define)
Unreactive metals eg gold are found uncombined, more reactive metals eg iron are
found combined but do not require a lot of energy to extract them. Very reactive
metals eg Aluminium require a lot of energy to extract them from their ores.
(describe)
Gold was one of the first to be available as it did not require energy to extract it.
Early methods could only supply small amounts of energy and so could only extract
metals like iron. The process of electrolysis needed to be developed to extract more
reactive metals like aluminium. As technology advanced more methods of extraction
have been developed and so more metals have become available.
(cause and effect)
Evaluate the contributions of Dobereiner and Newlands in developing the periodic
table.
The periodic table arranges the elements in order of atomic number in such a way that
trends are observed across periods and down groups.
(define)
Dobereiner saw that elements with very similar properties could be grouped in threes.
He called these triads.
(describe)
This drew attention to the fact that elements could be grouped in families. (explain)
Newlands developed the Law of Octaves. He observed that after every eighth
element the similarity in properties of the elements repeated.
(describe)
This gave rise to the concept of periodicity of the elements.
(explain)
Both these ideas have been valuable as they have been used to lay the foundations for
the development of the periodic table. The contributions of Dobereiner and Newlands
have been built upon by others to develop the periodic table we have today. (judge)