Lesson video

Hi, my name is Miss Speakman.

And in today's lesson, we'll be looking at structuring explain questions.

Now this is what we call stand-alone lessons so it works by itself.

You may have seen some of my other videos before, if so, welcome back.

If this is the first time you have seen me, hello, my name is Miss Speakman.

And essentially today's lesson is about how do we structure these explain questions in the GCSE? Hopefully, it will be really helpful in helping you to learn more about what the explain questions expect of you.

What are the top tips for answering this sort of question.

And hopefully, be as tailored to the exam board that you are with for your GCSE as possible.

So in today's lesson, we are going to learn how to structure an explain question.

Be as inclusive of exam boards as possible.

And complete some of these types of questions together.

Now we'll way before we start on this, is, obviously explain question isn't necessarily the type of question you will see in your exam board.

We'll talk about sort of different command words you might see or might come across in your exam.

We will try to be as inclusive of exam boards as possible.

I have done my best to research the different exam boards and the way that they would approach these types of questions.

I myself teach AQA, so that I am more tailored towards AQA, but I really hope for the other exam boards because I've done so much research.

I hope that it's helpful.

And I hope it's as close to what you expect from those exam boards as possible.

And I do hope that regardless of which exam board you are with this would be a really good way of thinking about some of the top tips across all exam boards that would be helpful for answering these types of question and also giving you a chance to practise some of these types of question.

So, can we make sure, please, that we are ready for the lesson.

In order to be ready, we are going to need a pen or a pencil, a piece of paper or an exercise book, and a different coloured pen for corrections.

It is so important to have that different coloured pen because we will be doing a lot of work today where I will give you a chance to have a go, then we'll go through my model answer, then we'll have a chance to correct things and add things, et cetera.

and it's always really good to have that in a different coloured pen, so it's nice and clear which is the work that you've done and which is the work of the other people, what you have done that you've made with corrections.

So, you are going to also need to make sure that you've got a nice, quiet, space to work.

So TV and music, off.

Phone on silent if you're not using it for the lesson.

A nice, quiet, clear working space.

If you need to get yourself ready, get any of those things, or set a place to work, then please pause the video now and then unpause when ready to start looking at exam questions.

Okay, so, explain questions.

There are quite a few different types of explain questions with the different examination boards.

So you might not even see the command word explain, but it will be similar to what is expected within an explain question.

Some examination boards have similar types of questions to explain questions in structure, but might use the command word describe or outline.

What I am going to do is try and be as inclusive as possible, and go through each of the exam boards, and explain explain, see my joke there.

And I try and explain what words they would use and what they would look like.

How many marks they are worth.

Of course, as I said, because I teach AQA personally, if there are any mistakes in any of the other exam board explanations or structure of it it would be really really helpful if I could be let known in some way.

I can provide you some details for that at the end of the lesson for how you can do that, if there's anything I need to change or to go over.

It would be helpful for my own knowledge too.

But what I've tried to do is much as possible is be super helpful with what I think the different exam boards from what I can tell, tell you to do in terms of each question.

So, what type of things need to be included in these types of question for all exam boards? Let's start there.

I think that's a really good place to start.

It's always a very good idea to have reference to scripture, teaching, sources of wisdom or authority, stories, facts, and figures.

We can sort of use this umbrella term evidence, really.

So evidence in terms of, it could be a direct quotation from scripture, it could be a paraphrased story or a teaching, it could be a source of wisdom or authority.

So someone within that religious tradition, a person.

It could be facts and figures of like, I don't know, let's say divorce rates in the UK, et cetera.

The inclusion of them shows a really good understanding of why Muslims, Christians, Hindus, et cetera, believe what they do.

And then a good way of backing up those points you're making.

Now it's a really good idea to sort of have in mind that for any marks you receive for these types of question is how many statements, really, you should have.

So for example, if it's a four mark question, you're looking for sort of four statements/sentences.

Eight marks, you need sort of like eight.

So sort of keep that in mind.

The P-chain structure works really well for most, if not all, of the exam boards.

So what we mean by that is Point, Evidence, Explanation.

And there I've got this idea of well these questions are what we call AO1.

They are testing knowledge and understanding, Assessment Objective One.

And so this box here, I've got on the screen, the sorts of sentences or statements that you you sort of should be having to sort of build up your answer.

So when I said, for example, four statements for four mark, eight statements for an eight mark.

Then anything like such is making a definition, giving a definition, giving a meaning of something, giving a factual statement, giving a belief or response to something, developing a point you are making, explaining a belief with response with reason or evidence, giving an example, exemplification, so sort of going into the why and the influences, et cetera, those sorts of statements work really really well for building up your answer.

So looking to have you know, if it's a four mark, four of those, or if it's an eight mark, eight of those.

Sort of bring that all together.

So, my top tips for writing a really good answer.

So I think it's so important to include reference to scripture, sources of wisdom, and authority evidence.

Like I said before that means learning your quotations, learning facts, learning figures, knowing stories falling within that religious tradition are super important to add into your answer.

In some exam boards, they will specifically ask that you have a reference to scripture, a story, et cetera, to get a certain amount of marks.

So for example, in AQA, in the five mark question, you have to have reference to scripture to gain all five marks.

It's very important to clearly state the religion you are writing about.

So for example, in Christianity, in Islam.

Muslims believe, Christians believe, Hindus believe, et cetera.

Because you would be very surprised how many people might make the mistake of saying in Islam, and then make reference to the Bible.

Or if you just put "in the Bible it says", that doesn't necessarily show that you know that for Christianity, the Holy Book is the Bible.

Make it nice and clear for any examiner which religion you are talking about, so they don't have to think about "does this person know which religion they are talking about?" You essentially want to treat the examiner not like they're stupid, but treat the examiner in a way saying, "I'm going to make it clear for you.

When you are marking my exam, here's the belief, here's the evidence, here's the explanation." Make it sign-posted easy for them.

In Christianity, in Islam, in the Bible it says, in the Quran it says, et cetera.

And also keep focus on the questions really easy.

Sort of go off on a tangent and write down those things that you know, that might not be specifically tailored to the question.

Make sure you read the question really carefully and make sure what you are writing directly answers that question.

We're going to look, first of all, at OCR.

There are sort of different types of questions where you might see different command words.

So for example, AO1 and AO2 stand for Assessment Objective One and Assessment Objective Two.

AO1 questions, usually test your knowledge and understanding, AO2 questions will test your understanding for analysis, explanation, evaluation, et cetera.

So in OCR, this- well you may see describe or outline questions worth three marks each.

They also have lower value three mark questions, which might be name 3 things, give 2 things, but there is also an AO1 describe or outline question worth three marks.

And then there is also a six mark question an AO2 style question, which is explain, describe, or outline.

There may be other command words well used within OCR.

These are perhaps going to be the most common that we can find in some of their assessment sample papers.

So what we're going to do is I'm going to take you through some styles of question for each of the exam boards.

When I go through these, you might be thinking, "This isn't my exam board, so I'm not going to listen" or "I don't want to do this bit because it's not my exam board." We're going to be covering material that is useful for any exam board.

I would recommend you ask your teacher which exam board you are with before we continue with all of the questions, if you don't already know.

Or keep in mind if you're not quite sure and you can't ask your teacher at the moment, to ask them at the next opportunity.

It's still very important to think about how would we answer this question? What's the sort of content we need to include? And what you will probably see is a lot of the structuring is very similar.

And it would be, therefore, to have some added information from your teacher as to how exactly they would like you to answer that type of question.

So, we're going to go on to a three mark question for OCR, then just a describe or outline question.

I'm going to disappear.

So I've essentially started off by giving you a model answer to a three mark question for OCR.

It says describe one Christian view on war, which is worth three marks.

And this is where I have given you my answer.

So some Christians may believe that you should never go to war, as they may be pacifists.

This is the belief that violence should never be used.

Many Christians believe Jesus is an example of a pacifist, as Jesus did not use violence himself.

Now what you can see these are those sort of statements I told you about at the beginning of the lesson in that blue box.

I've got there, the idea of pacifism.

So I have given a key word.

I've explained what it means and I have given an example of why Christians might believe in pacifism.

So you can see there I have three clear statements.

Therefore I have covered those three marks.

What we're going to do now is we're going to have a look at a six mark question for OCR.

I'm going to give you an outline and then I want you to have a go at answering it.

As I said, even if you're not with OCR, I think it's really important that we have a go at this.

As you'll see the structure will be really similar if not really useful for the other examples too.

So let's move forward.

I'm going to ask you to pause the video on the next slide, cause on the next slide will be the instructions, the outline, for this question.

I want you to use this outline to complete your answer.

And then we will do answers corrections together.

It's really important you give it your best go, even if you're not quite sure.

The practise in of itself will be super super helpful, not only when revising content, but also with getting you used to answering exam-style questions.

So my outline here is for the question explain why Christians differ on their views on euthanasia.

So, this is within the matters of life and death religion and life unit, which talks about euthanasia.

And what I essentially want you to do is to use my structure to explain why Christians differ on their views on euthanasia.

What I mean by this is, why are there different views within Christianity on the issue of euthanasia? Which is ending a life that is suffering from a terminal illness.

So ending someone's life before they would naturally die.

So some Christians may be against the use of euthanasia because you need to give a clear view as to why.

This is supported by the Bible which says, I'd like you to give me a quotation to support this.

So what in the Bible maybe teaches Christians that euthanasia, they would be against euthanasia? This means that you tell me what that quotation shows what it means.

This may influence a Christian to do what? So what may they do because of this belief and because of this verse? However, other Christians may agree with the use of euthanasia because I need to tell me why, for example, Christians may agree with euthanasia.

This is supported by situation ethics.

And I want you to tell me what situation ethics says.

Why is situation ethics supports the idea of euthanasia in some cases.

This shows that some Christians may agree with it because so make that nice and clear, this may influence a Christian to do what.

Now you'll see here, I've probably got about eight different statements, rather than six to cover these six marks because I think it's really, really important if we can to try and include as much information as possible without writing too much.

I think here, this would be a really nice way of covering the six marks for an OCR-style question.

What I'd like you to do please then is to pause the video now to write out all of this and make sure that you've added in the pink bits where you need to.

And then unpause when you're ready.

Give it your best, go.

Don't worry, we'll go through corrections if you're finding it difficult, but you can do it.

Pause now, unpause when you're ready to look at corrections.

Okay, so please make sure you get a different coloured pen out ready for corrections.

If you're not quite finished, then feel free just to rewind the video a little bit and continue with your answer.

It's so important that we do corrections.

It's probably likely that there may be a couple of things to add or a couple of things to change.

But this is a really good way of learning and improving.

So please have a different coloured pen out ready.

So here's my answer.

Yours doesn't have to be exactly like mine.

In terms of word for word.

You may have used a different verse, for example.

You may have referred to different teachings absolutely fine or given a different explanation.

This is just a model for you.

Some Christians may be against the use of euthanasia because they believe in the sanctity of life which is all life is sacred as it is a gift from God so there's no right to take life.

This is supported by the Bible which says do not commit murder.

Some Christians may believe euthanasia is committing murder.

This may influence a Christian to support the use of hospices, which care for those with terminal illnesses with dignity.

However, other questions may be With the use of euthanasia because someone's quality of life may be poor.

This is supported by situation ethics which says the right thing to do is do the most loving thing in a situation.

This shows that some Christians may agree with it because they may believe it's more loving to use euthanasia if someone is suffering.

This may influence a Christian to campaign for the law to be changed in the UK on euthanasia.

So as you can see there that's my model answer.

If you want to add anything correct yours or find any of these sentences really useful or helpful then please pause the video now.

Make those corrections and unpause when you are ready to move on.

Looking now then at Eduqas or WJEC.

We're going to look at the two types of questions that they will have which are similar of course to OCR.

And then we'll look at AQA and Edexcel afterwards.

So you have the describe questions which are worth five marks each and they're explain questions which are worth eight marks each.

So with Eduqas there are slightly longer questions for explain in terms of that looking for a little bit more for those explain questions.

What we're going to is sort of do steps example of both of these types of question so that you feel more confident then with answering these for Eduqas.

Now what you'll find, especially for the describe question, that will be very similar to what it looks like a AQA and OCR too.

So it'll be really helpful to do this sort of question as well, when we're looking at the other exam boards, but also for the explain questions for Eduqas should be really, really helpful, especially for those longer answers for the other exam boards like the 12 and the 15 markers.

Of course, there'll be slightly different things to add with those types of questions, which we'll cover in a separate lesson on the evaluate questions and the discuss questions.

But this will be really helpful with sort of looking at longer answers.

But also, if we even think about what these explained questions for Eduqas.

Even if we broke those down a little bit and took a little bit away, they'd be really helpful for the other examples.

So I'm going to disappear.

I'm going to start off with a five mark, which we'll do again when I give you the outline and we'll go through the answer together.

And then we'll do an eight mark where I'll give you the structure.

And I ask you, I show you how I'd like you to do it and then we'll give you the answers and go through it and talk about it.

So let's go.

So what like you to do is to pause the video on the next slide to complete your task because that's where your outline will be for this five mark question.

So the five mark question is describe the importance of angels in Islam.

The pink bits is where you need to add some stuff.

So in Islam angels are important for, you tell me for what and for why.

And in for this let's choose Jibril.

So I want us to choose Jibril for this.

For example you need to give me a clear example and reference to Scripture.

This refers to when, then you tell me the story about Jibril and what happened and the importance of Jibril.

Angels are also important for, for what, for why.

For this one, I'd like you to choose Raqib and Atid.

In the Quran it refers to, give me a reference to Scripture.

What does this verse show and to explain it and then therefore, what will Muslims do because of this? Now for this if you can't think of the Quran quotation that's absolutely fine because we can add that in.

Cause we will go through corrections.

The most important thing is getting this structure down.

So filling in as much as you can and using this structure and then being able to recognise patterns when need to add things or change things.

So will you please pause the video now.

Give it your best go, you can absolutely do it.

And it's okay for some of the bits you struggle with we can go over it with correction.

So pause now, unpause when you're ready for corrections.

Okay, so please make sure your different coloured pen out ready for corrections.

I'm assuming that you are ready.

If not, then you can rewind the video and carry on and then come back to us when you are ready.

But let's go through the corrections now.

So here is my answer.

So it says in Islam angels are important for giving revelations to prophets as many Muslims believe humans cannot speak directly to Allah as Allah is transcendent and humans are sinful.

For example, the angel Jibril revealed the Quran of Prophet Muhammad.

In the Quran it says, "Recite in the name of your Lord." This refers to when the angel Jibril instructed Muhammad to read and he recited the words of the Quran.

Angels are also important for recording good and bad deeds in preparation for the day of judgement.

Muslims believes the angels Raqib and Atid sit on the shoulders of every human and record the good and bad deeds.

In the Quran it refers to, "And indeed appointed over you are keepers Noble and recording; they know whatever you do." These records are then given to and on the Day of Judgement and he chooses whether you go to Jannah or Jahannam, therefore Muslims will do good deeds and follow the Quran.

So you might find that you haven't got as much detail as me or there's somethings missing or something you think oh, actually, that's really useful.

What I'd like you to do is to pause and then add corrections in your different coloured pen.

You may still find, for example, the Quran references you didn't have or you were missing them or you weren't quite sure that's absolutely fine.

I know that you've done a really, really good job and I know you've tried really, really hard.

These corrections will really help you and make you even better.

So, pause make corrections unpause when you're ready to go through an eight mark Eduqas question.

So we're going to pause the video on the next slide because I'm going to give you a structure, a possible structure for an eight mark question.

And this eight mark question will be from the human rights unit.

So let's go.

So I want you to explain from two religious traditions attitudes towards social justice, which is worth eight marks.

For possible structure, I don't want to give you all the sentence starters for this because as a longer question, you'll probably find it easier if I just give you the bullet points of what I want you to include.

So you need to include what social justice is and Christian attitude towards it.

Two reasons why Christians might want to fight for social justice.

Muslim attitudes to social justice and two reasons Muslims might want to fight for it.

And an example of someone putting those values into action.

So there's no real way of structuring this in terms of which bits go first apart from maybe including what social justice is first and then those other bullet points you need to include in sort of any order that you would like.

And so give it your best go.

As I said, you might find this little bit tricky.

That's absolutely fine.

This is such a good way of going over things, revising things, getting ourselves ready for the exam.

You will be absolutely 100% fine.

So give it your best go and pause now unpause when you're ready to go through corrections.

Okay, please make sure you get a different coloured pen out ready for corrections.

If you need to, then you can go back continue with your answer if you're not quite finished, but let's make sure we've got out different coloured pens out and I will give you my model answer.

So it's going to be split over two slides because there's so much I've written here.

So social justice is fixing the in justices of a society and ensuring human rights.

Many Christians believe that they should do as much as they can for social justice.

One reason a Christian might want to fight for social justice is because they follow the principle from situation ethics that they should do the most loving thing in every situation.

Putting agape love into practise.

Another reason a Christian might want to fight for social justice because of the Bible teaching.

There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles.

You will all one in union with Jesus Christ, which implies that all people are equal.

So that's the Christianity section.

If you need to make any corrections or you want to make any additions perhaps maybe you think those quotations are really useful or there's a little bit of information you want to add then please pause now make those corrections and then we will go through the second part of this answer because it's only half of it.

Okay, my second part.

Many Muslims believe that they should fight for social justice.

One reason a Muslim might want to fight for social justice is because they believe that all humans are made by God and so have an equal status.

Another reason a Muslim may want to fight for social justice is because giving zakah payments teaches them to look after the Ummah, no matter where they are in the world.

One person who put these beliefs into actions was Malala.

She campaigned for the right of every child to have an education, even though she was targeted and shot by the Taliban.

So if you need to make any corrections or additions can you please pause now and do that.

Then after you've unpaused we're then going to go through a look at AQA and Edexcel questions and the styles that they would have within that example specification.

Well done for your work so far.

Really, really impressive.

And looking now at AQA and Edexcel.

there are two types of explain question within AQA and Edexcel.

One that's worth four marks and one that is worth five marks.

So in AQA and Edexcel, explaining two ideas, that can be explained two of religious beliefs about Tawhid, explain two ways Muslims practise prayer.

It could be two ways in which Christians celebrate Christmas et cetera.

They'll be worth four marks.

Sometimes within AQA in particular, you may see explain two contrasting which means two different ideas.

you might have explain two contrasting views on community service as a type of punishment.

Cause we're looking for two different examples.

We might have two similar ideas.

We're going to explain to similar religious beliefs about the use of weapons of mass destruction.

So essentially, they might be slightly different ways of phrasing that four mark question.

Then they have explain questions which specifically asked for the inclusion of Scripture.

So the difference between a four mark and five marks is the five mark specifies you must include a quotation scripture, sources of wisdom et cetera, to get that extra mark.

So they're very, very similar in terms of structure.

But they will.

One of them specifies the use of Scripture.

So what we're going to do is start off by looking at four mark, then we'll look at five mark together in exactly the same way we've looked at others.

So I'm going to disappear for that.

I'm going to start off with a four mark.

So I want you to pause the video on the next slide to complete your task.

Again, I'm going to give you sort of a structure to use for the four mark question, then I'll give you a go at doing it yourself.

Then we'll go through the answers and then do the same for a five mark question.

You're going to pause on the next slide after I've given you instructions.

So on two contrasting ways, the Eucharist is celebrated in Christianity.

Remember that contrasting means different.

So Roman Catholics believe in that, what do they believe happens to the bread and the wine? Because of this belief they will and you tell me what do they do because of this.

Baptists believes that the Eucharist.

What do they believe that the Eucharist.

Therefore they will, tell me what they do.

So where the pink bits are you need to complete that.

So you need to write out the paragraph, complete where the pink bits are.

Pause the video now unpause when you're ready for corrections.

Give it your best go.

Okay, please have your different coloured pen out ready for corrections.

If you're not quite finished, rewind the video, unpause and continue, then come back to us when you're ready.

Let's have our different coloured pens out to correct.

So Roman Catholics believe in transubstantiation, which is where the bread and the wine are physically transformed into the body and blood of Jesus.

Because of this belief, they will use candles, incense and bells in the Eucharist service to highlight the feeling of mystery.

Baptists believes the Eucharist should just be just a meal to remember Jesus and his sacrifice.

Therefore, they will retell the story of the Last Supper, drink from single cups of wine and drink at the same time.

You can see there I've told two ways in which the Eucharist is celebrated, which means essentially practised.

And I've said different views, which then completes up the the need to have contrasting views.

If you need to make any corrections, please pause the video and do so in a moment, making sure of course, it doesn't have to be word for word like mine.

But of course, including the most important parts, perhaps maybe you missed off an explanation or you've used the wrong terminology.

So pause the video now, make corrections, unpause when you're ready to go through a five mark question.

So you're going to pause the video on the next slide.

And we're going to go through and look at a five mark question, which is, of course this time needs inclusion of a scripture verse.

So I want explain to beliefs about Tawhid referring to scripture or sacred writings in your answer.

So you need to have one belief about Tawhid is.

The name one of the three ideas contained within Tawhid.

Tell me what the Quran says.

So give a Quran quotation to support this and then tell me what this shows.

So explain how this quotation shows that belief in Tawhid.

That then covers the inclusion of scripture and then the second paragraph, another belief Tawhid is and name another one of the three ideas and then give a detailed explanation of what this means and what it shows about Allah's nature.

With these five mark questions, you don't need to include two verses, but it can be super helpful, especially if perhaps maybe one you get incorrect or use incorrectly, you then covered your back a little bit.

But anyway, I want to pause the video now please.

Have a go at doing this.

So copying out the sentences, completing where the pink bits are and then unpausing when you're ready to go through corrections.

You can do it.

So again, let's make sure we've got our different coloured pens out ready for correction.

Of course, if you're not quite finished you can rewind and then keep going back through your question, but I think we're ready for corrections.

So please make sure you've got your different coloured pen out.

Let's go.

So one belief that Tawhid that Allah is first.

The Quran says Allah creates what He wills.

Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.

This shows that as Allah is the Creator of all things, he must be transcendent.

And if he's transcendent he must be indefinable as no human can experience him.

Another belief Tawhid is that Allah is whole.

This means that Allah cannot be broken down into parts.

He's one whole and is therefore omnipotent as he has no weak parts.

Now of course, you could have chosen another part of Tawhid here.

There is of course, first, whole and greatest.

I've chosen just first and whole.

If Of course you've chosen those two, then it's really good way to make corrections, isn't it? If you've chosen greatest, absolutely fine because that would also be credited.

If you need to make any corrections by adding anything, changing some of the key detail, et cetera, then please pause now and then unpause when you are ready.

So I'm just going to wait for my face to appear eventually.

Okay, so I'm going to say a huge, huge thank you for taking part in our lesson today.

There's a lot of stuff in that lesson, isn't there? We've covered a lot of different topics and units and different exam boards.

As I said, it's always best to check with your teacher which exam board you are with to see whether or not it fits exactly with what you're doing.

And always a really good idea to check with your teacher that what you're producing is a super good answer.

I'm absolutely sure what you've produced is great, but of course I'm not there personally to check it for you.

So thank you so much.

I know there's a lot in there.

I hope it's been really, really helpful.

I've tried my best try uncover everything that I think needs to be covered.

But of course I'm only human and I could have made mistakes here or there.

So again on say a huge thank you for taking part.

It's been really lovely teaching you.

Thank you very much, goodbye.

Okay, as I said, there may be some cases where I may have made a very small mistake.

Or there's something that you think needs to be added or needs to be changed in this lesson.

And as I said, I've tried really hard to cover the examples properly, but there may be some small mistakes.

So if you'd like to please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter tagging at @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

This can also be flagging up anything that you think needs to be added or changed.

Thank you so much.