Six-mark questions

Six-mark questions are extended open response questions. These require longer answers than the structured questions with fewer marks. It is wise to plan your answer rather than rushing straight into it, otherwise you may stray away from the key points.

Six-mark questions are marked using a levels-based mark scheme because they are open ended. To gain full marks, you need to:

support explanations using scientific knowledge and understanding
use appropriate scientific words and terms
write clearly, linking ideas in a logical way
maintain a sustained line of reasoning, rather than getting lost or bogged down

You are likely to see command words such as:

'describe' - you need to give an account but no reason
'explain' - you must give reasons or explanations
'devise' - you must plan or invent a procedure using your scientific knowledge and understanding
'evaluate' - you must review information, including identifying strengths and weaknesses, and make a supported conclusion

Six-mark questions may be synoptic questions. These questions bring together ideas from two or more topics. For example, a question about atoms could include ideas about atomic structure, isotopes, radiation and nuclear reactions.

Remember that the topics covered in the first paper are assumed knowledge for the second paper, so questions in the second paper may need knowledge and understanding of those topics too.

The answers shown here give marking points as bullet points. You do not usually need to include all of them to gain six marks, but you do need to write in full sentences, linking them logically and clearly.