NZQA command words
The verb in the question tells you what your answer must DO. Answering a “discuss” question with a description is the single most common way to lose a grade you actually knew the content for.
The one-line version
Describe = what. Explain = why/how. Discuss/Evaluate/Justify = why and so what, with a verdict. As a rule of thumb: Achieved verbs ask for facts, Merit verbs ask for reasons, Excellence verbs ask for judgement.
Identify / Name / State
AchievedGive a short factual answer. No reasoning required: just the correct term, value or label.
What it looks like “The functional group is a carboxylic acid.”One sentence is usually enough. Don’t waste exam time explaining.
Describe
AchievedSay what happens, or what something is like. Add detail and characteristics, but you do not need to give reasons.
What it looks like “As light shines from one side, the shoot bends toward the light source.”A description answers what. If you find yourself writing “because”, you’ve moved into explaining.
Explain
MeritSay how or why it happens. Give the mechanism and link cause to effect.
What it looks like “Auxin moves to the shaded side of the shoot, because light causes it to migrate away from the lit side. Auxin promotes cell elongation, so cells on the shaded side grow longer, which causes the shoot to bend toward the light.”Use connectives: because, therefore, this causes, which means, as a result. If your answer has none, you probably haven’t explained.
Discuss
Merit → ExcellenceExplain, then consider more than one aspect, factor or viewpoint, and show how they relate.
What it looks like “Increasing temperature raises the rate, but because the forward reaction is exothermic it also lowers the equilibrium yield, so industry compromises at ~450 °C.”A discussion needs at least two things in tension. Show the trade-off, don’t just list points.
Analyse
Merit → ExcellenceBreak something into its parts and examine how those parts relate or contribute to the whole.
What it looks like “The low-key lighting isolates Cobb in shadow, while the tight framing crops out the background: together they construct him as psychologically trapped.”Analysis = parts + relationship. Naming techniques without linking them is only description.
Compare / Contrast
MeritGive the similarities and/or differences side by side, on the same criteria.
What it looks like “A taxis is directional. The animal moves toward or away from the stimulus. A kinesis is non-directional: only the rate of movement changes. Both, however, end with the animal in a more favourable environment.”Use comparative language (whereas, in contrast, both, however). Two separate paragraphs that never touch is NOT a comparison.
Evaluate
ExcellenceJudge the worth, strength or significance of something: and justify the judgement with evidence. Usually means weighing strengths against weaknesses and reaching a conclusion.
What it looks like “The claim is not justified. Because this was an observational study, a lurking variable such as household income could explain both variables, so a causal conclusion cannot be drawn from this data.”An evaluation must reach a verdict. Listing pros and cons without concluding stops short of Excellence.
Justify
ExcellenceGive reasons and evidence supporting a choice or conclusion, and say why alternatives are weaker.
What it looks like “Phenolphthalein is the correct indicator because the equivalence point is basic (pH ≈ 8.8), which falls inside its 8.3–10 range. Methyl orange would change colour far too early, at pH 3–4.”Justify = defend a decision. Always link back to the specific data or context in the question.
Assess
ExcellenceWeigh up the importance or impact of something, considering multiple factors, and state an overall judgement.
What it looks like “Bipedalism was the more significant adaptation: it freed the hands, which enabled tool use, which in turn drove the selection pressure for the larger brain seen later.”Very close to evaluate. The key move is prioritising or ranking, with a reason.
Elaborate / Fully explain
ExcellenceTake your explanation further. Add depth, extra links, quantitative support, or wider consequences.
What it looks like “…and because ΔG = ΔH − TΔS, the reaction only becomes feasible above T = ΔH/ΔS = 1106 K, which is why the industrial furnace must run above ~850 °C.”Usually the difference between Merit and Excellence in the sciences: same idea, taken one causal step further.
The same content, at three different command words
One piece of Biology content, answered three ways. Notice that only the verb changed.
| Command word | An answer that would score |
|---|---|
| Describe Achieved | Woodlice move more quickly in dry conditions and more slowly in damp conditions, so they end up gathered in damp areas. |
| Explain Merit | Woodlice move quickly in dry air because the stimulus intensity is high, and slow down in damp air. As a result, they spend more time in damp areas and accumulate there. This is a kinesis because the response is non-directional, only the rate of movement changes. |
| Discuss / Evaluate Excellence | …all of the above, plus: this behaviour has clear survival value, damp conditions reduce water loss through the woodlouse’s permeable cuticle and lower desiccation risk, so individuals that respond this way survive longer and reproduce more. A kinesis is sufficient here because woodlice cannot detect the direction of humidity, so a directional taxis would not be possible; random movement plus a variable rate achieves the same outcome at lower sensory cost. |
Biology: where this bites hardest
Biology answers are marked on depth of reasoning, and the command word sets the required depth. A perfect description of a process still caps at Achieved if the question said “explain”. Two habits fix most of it: always define your key term precisely (see the Key Definitions box on each topic), and always finish with survival value when the question is about a response or adaptation.
⚠English: where this bites hardest
English externals almost always use “analyse” or “respond critically”. Both demand technique → effect → wider meaning. Retelling the plot is description and will not get past Achieved, no matter how detailed. Every paragraph should end by answering “so what?”: what the director/author achieves, and how you as viewer/reader are positioned.
Exam rules from the NZQA specifications
Not content — procedure. Each of these comes from the subject's own 2026 assessment specification, and each of them can cost a grade you knew the material for.
⚠Physics (91523 · 91524 · 91526)
- In a “show that” question, write down UNROUNDED values. The specification says so explicitly. Rounding partway through and then producing the target number looks like working backwards from the answer.
- Carry unrounded values through the whole calculation and round only the final answer.
- Significant figures must match the data in the question, and must be clear. Standard form is recommended.
- Always give a unit, and use SI units unless a prefix is more sensible. Prefixes are limited to giga, mega, kilo, centi, milli, micro, nano and pico — be ready to interpret data given in any of them.
- g = 9.81 m s⁻² will be given to you.
- Bring a ruler and a protractor as well as a calculator — the specification lists all three as required equipment.
- Show reasoning with numbers, words or diagrams. Where a question asks you to connect two principles, you must show the connection mathematically.
Calculus (91577 · 91578 · 91579)
- An answer on its own can cost you the grade. The specification is explicit: candidates who give “the correct response only may lose the opportunity to provide evidence for other grades or to have minor errors ignored.” Show intermediate steps even when you can do it in your head.
- A graphing calculator does not excuse you from showing the calculus. “When graphing calculators are used to solve a problem, candidates must provide evidence of their differentiation and integration skills.” Write the derivative or antiderivative down, then use the calculator.
- Bring a graphing calculator. The specification says candidates without one “will be disadvantaged”.
- Guess-and-check will not earn Merit or Excellence — it is “unlikely to show the required thinking”.
- Round to 3 significant figures unless told otherwise. Rounding slips and unit slips are minor errors and are not usually penalised.
- Excellence may require you to devise your own model, and may pull in content from the other Level 3 Calculus standards — so do not revise the three in isolation.
Before you write anything in the exam
Circle the command word in the question. Then ask: “Am I being asked for a fact, a reason, or a judgement?” Match your answer’s shape to that. It is the cheapest mark-grab available to you.