Six-mark questions
Six-mark questions are extended open response questions. These require longer answers than the structured questions that have fewer marks. It is wise to plan your answer first by making some notes. This will help you to include all the key points.
To gain full marks, you need to:
- support explanations using scientific knowledge and understanding
- use appropriate scientific words
- write clearly and link ideas in a logical way
- maintain a sustained line of reasoning
Writing six-mark answers with Dr Alex Lathbridge
Listen to the full series on BBC Sounds.
Six-mark questions often use these command words:
- Describe means you should recall facts, events or processes accurately. You might need to give an account of what something looked like, or what happened.
- Explain means you need to make something clear, or state the reasons for something happening.
- Compare means you need to describe similarities and differences between things. If you are asked to compare X and Y, write down something about X and something about Y, and give a comparison. Do not just write about X only or Y only.
- Evaluate means you must use information supplied, or your own knowledge, to consider the evidence for and against or to identify strengths and weaknesses. You must then complete your answer with a conclusion, stating which is better and why, for example.
Six-mark questions may be synoptic questions, which bring together ideas from two or more topics. For example, a question about fertilisers could include ideas about covalent substances, acids and alkalis, chemical calculations, and effects on the environment.
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 sentences, linking them logically and clearly.
These questions have been written by Bitesize consultants as suggestions to the types of questions that may appear in an exam paper.
Sample question 1 - Foundation
Question
A teacher mixed aluminium and iodine powder, and added a drop of water.
The reaction shown by the equation below occurred.
2Al(s) + 3I2(s) → 2AlI3(s)
Explain what is shown by the formulae in the equation, and by the equation itself. [6 marks]
Sample question 2 - Foundation
Question
State the law of conservation of mass, and explain why some reactions may appear to involve a change in mass. [6 marks]
Sample question 3 - Higher
Question
Explain why 1 mol of aluminium sulfate has a number of ions that is five times greater than the number of atoms in 1 mol of aluminium metal.
Include a chemical formula in your answer.
The value of the Avogadro constant is 6.02 × 1023/mol. [6 marks]
Sample question 4 - Higher
Question
A student reacts calcium carbonate with hydrochloric acid.
Suggest how she can use the apparatus in the list below to show that the mass of the contents of the beaker decreases.
Apparatus:
- beaker
- balance
- spatula
- watch glass
[6 marks]