Command Terms in

Biology our advice

State (or give or name)
Take, for example, the picture of the boy. You would state that
this is a boy.

In the context of an exam question you may need to state the part of
the body that produces bile. (Answer: the liver).

Describe
Then to describe the boy you could say that he has brown hair and
brown eyes. Simply say what you see.

Sometimes you may need to describe a process or pathway. For

example when you inhale, oxygen travels down the trachea, then into
the bronchi and the bronchioles and finally into the alveoli before
diffusing into the blood. In this situation, a describe question is testing
your knowledge and testing your factual recall.

Be careful to distinguish between describing a biological structure and

describing the function of that structure. The structure is something
that you can label on a diagram, like a nucleus in a diagram of a cell.
The function is the job or role of that structure (the nucleus contains
the DNA that codes for the proteins that control the cell).

Finally, when describing graphs, you need to describe the trend(s) you
see, quantitatively if possible. Look at the mark allocation to see how
much detail to include but remember not to start to give reasons for
the change unless you are asked to….

Explain
When asked to explain, you need to give a scientific
reason why or how. Here, you need to use the word ‘because’. The
boy has brown hair and brown eyes because he has inherited the
alleles/genes for these characteristics from his parents. If the exam
question is worth several marks you may need to support your answer
with a genetic diagram or a Punnet square to show off your
understanding of inheritance!

Application questions ask you to explain why or how something

happens but in an unfamiliar context. You may have learnt how famers
have selectively bred cows to yield large volumes of milk. But an exam
question may ask you to explain how a farmer can selectively
breed tomatoes to produce large tasty tomatoes. Here you simply
show off your understanding of the process of selective breeding but
change ‘cow’ to ‘plant’ and ‘milk yield’ to ‘size and taste’.

The first step in application questions is always to identify the part

of the course that the question relates to. Then show off what you
know about this topic, while ensuring your answers are relevant to
the question. Remember to include key words and relevant information
from the question itself. (examples of application questions on
separate sheet)

Compare
When asked to compare, you need to comment
on both the similarities and the differences. It’s important to take
each similarity and difference in turn as the mark schemes often offer
only 1 mark per comparison, rather than a mark for each individual set
of similarities and differences. It’s important to use comparative
terms such as longer, fewer, faster or to say that one has
something while the other lacks something.

For example, if asked to compare mitosis and meiosis, you could write
the following: “Mitosis and meiosis are similar because they are both
forms of cell division that produce daughter cells. However, there are
clear differences. Mitosis produces 2 identical daughter cells, while
meiosis produces 4 unique daughter cells. Mitosis involves 1 division,
while meiosis involves 2”.

If asked to compare aerobic and anaerobic respiration you could say:

“They both transfer energy from glucose. But aerobic respiration
releases more ATP molecules than anaerobic respiration and aerobic
respiration releases carbon dioxide and water while anaerobic
releases lactic acid as a product”.

Common compare questions in Biology are: sexual/asexual

reproduction; the role of the menstrual cycle hormones; plant/animal
cells; eukaryotic/prokaryotic cells, light/electron microscopes,
osmosis/diffusion/active transport; biotic/abiotic factors;
communicable/non-communicable diseases; arteries/veins/capillaries;
translocation/transpiration; xylem/phloem. These are all worth
practising.

Evaluate
In the exam, if you are asked to evaluate, you have to put forward
advantages and disadvantages. A good way to revise these questions
is to create a table of ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ and use this to evaluate the
common topics that come up in the exams.

Common evaluate questions in Biology are: Different forms of

contraceptives; IVF; genetic engineering; intensive farming; light or
electron microscopes; stem cells; treatments for cardiovascular
disease. Once again, get practising!

Suggest
Finally, in suggest questions, which are often worth only 1 mark, you
would not necessarily have been taught the answer and you need to
make an educated guess. Here, the examiner is trying to work out how
good you are at applying what you have learnt to novel or unfamiliar
contexts.
Application Question Examples
Example 1: Stem Cells

‘Alzheimer’s disease causes memory less and is the result of neurones

in the brain degrading. Explain how stem cells could be used to treat
this disease’.

At first sight, you might think, “How can I answer this, I know nothing
about Alzheimer’s disease?!” Well, you may not have covered the
disease, but you have learnt about stem cells. The key words in the
question are stem cells.

Two alternative answers are:

 Embryonic stem cells can be removed from a blastocyst or spare

IVF embryo, allowed to divide and differentiate into neurones and
then injected into the body/brain to replace the neurones that
have degraded.
 Therapeutic cloning could be carried out to make
an embryo with the same DNA as the patient. These stem
cells can be encouraged to become neurones and then injected
into the body/brain to replace the neurones that have degraded.

Regardless of the alternative you use, it’s important to refer to stem

cells, to state the tissue or organ type you need to create for the
treatment and to describe how you would get these cells into the
patient.

If the disease given in the question is a blood disease such as

leukaemia, then adult stem cells from bone marrow can be used
instead. These are simply removed from a donor’s bone marrow (in
their hip using a long needle) and injected into the patient’s blood.

Example 2:Cell transport

‘Below is a table that compares the absorption of two sugars in the

small intestine. However, one small intestine has been poisoned with
cyanide, a gas that prevents respiration. Use your knowledge of cell
transport to explain these results’.
 Relative rate of absorption
Sugar Normal small Poisoned small
intestine intestine

X 0.50 0.51

Y 0.95 0.15

The key words in this question are cell transport. But what type of cell
transport is it? Osmosis, diffusion or active transport?

First, we can rule out osmosis as it involves water, not sugar. Then the
question also tells you that cyanide prevents respiration.
It’s active transport that we’re looking for here, because it’s active
transport that relies on the energy transferred in respiration to move
substances against their concentration gradient.

Once you’ve made that connection, you can apply it to the data. Sugar
X had similar absorption rates with or without cyanide, so the
absorption of this sugar must be passive transport and
therefore diffusion. But Sugar Y had a significant reduction in the
absorption rate in the small intestine that was poisoned by cyanide.
This means that the absorption of Sugar Y occurs by active transport.
As the cyanide prevented respiration, no active transport could take
place and less absorption occurred.

Example 3: Exchange surfaces

‘Fish and amoeba both live in water. Fish have gills to obtain dissolved
oxygen, while amoeba, single-celled organisms, do not. Explain the
similarities and differences between the exchange systems of fish and
amoeba.’

The key words in this question are exchange systems. You need to
apply the features of exchange surfaces that increase diffusion, which
include large surface area, moist surface (a given, as both creatures
are aquatic) rich blood supply and small diffusion distance. Amoeba
have a large surface area to volume ratio, which means they benefit
from a small diffusion distance and do not need a
sophisticated exchange system like the gills of fish. The complex
system of gills increases the surface area for oxygen absorption but
this is also coupled with a rich blood supply to transport the oxygen
around their multicellular bodies.