Revision that works
How do I answer 6-mark questions?
Six-mark questions are marked on the quality of your whole answer, not one point per mark. Read the command word first - explain, evaluate, compare - because it tells you the job. Then make two or three developed points: state the point, support it with evidence or an example, and explain how it answers the question. A one-minute plan and a clear line of argument beat a page of everything you know.
Last updated 29 July 2026 · Written and fact-checked by the GCSEwiz team
How 6-markers are actually marked
Most short questions are marked point-by-point: say the thing, get the mark. Six-markers usually work differently - the examiner reads your whole answer and places it in a band, judging how well-developed and well-organised it is overall. That changes the winning strategy completely. Six half-thoughts scattered across a page sit in a low band; two or three points properly developed and clearly linked to the question sit high. Depth beats breadth, every time.
This is why the classic panic move - writing down everything you know about the topic - scores so modestly. The examiner is not counting facts; they are asking "has this student actually answered the question, with reasoning?" A shorter, organised answer routinely outscores a longer, unorganised one.
The command word is the question
The first word of the question is the instruction, and answering a different instruction is the most common way good knowledge earns low marks:
| Command word | The job it sets |
|---|---|
| Describe | Say what happens - no reasons needed |
| Explain | Give reasons - every point needs a because |
| Compare | Similarities and differences, both sides in every point |
| Evaluate / Discuss | Weigh both sides, then commit to a judgement |
| Suggest | Apply what you know to something unfamiliar - reasoned ideas, not recall |
A structure that carries you
Spend the first minute planning: jot the two or three points you will make, in order. Those sixty seconds repay themselves in a tighter answer and usually save time overall, because you never stall mid-answer wondering what comes next.
Then build each point the same way: make the point plainly, back it with a piece of evidence or an example, and explain how it answers the question asked. You may have met this as PEE or PEEL - the label does not matter, and no examiner awards marks for knowing it. What matters is that every point is developed and every development points back at the question. For evaluate questions, add the ending most answers forget: an actual judgement - "overall, the stronger case is…" - because the command word asked for one, and the top band is reserved for answers that deliver it.
Train with the mark scheme beside you
The fastest way to improve on 6-markers is to see them from the examiner's chair. Write an answer, then mark it yourself against the mark scheme and, where you can find them, the indicative content - noticing what the top band demands that yours lacks. Do this a handful of times and the mark scheme's habits become your habits: the command word registers automatically, the plan appears, the judgement lands. It stops being a question type you fear and becomes six of the more predictable marks on the paper.