Cambridge command words: the difference between 'state', 'explain' and 'evaluate'

Cambridge exam questions use specific command words — state, describe, explain, evaluate, discuss — and each one asks for a different kind of answer.

'State' wants a fact, briefly. 'Describe' wants detail, but not reasoning. 'Explain' wants a reason or mechanism — the word 'because' should usually appear in your answer somewhere. 'Evaluate' wants you to weigh up strengths and weaknesses and reach a judgement.

A well-written 'describe' answer to an 'explain' question can score close to zero, even with perfectly accurate content, simply because it never answers what was actually asked.

Before revising content further, it's worth going through past papers and simply labelling the command word in each question — it's a fast way to spot a pattern in the marks you're losing.